Career Center Budgets Climb 21% in Last Two Years

March 24, 2025 | By Kevin Gray

Benchmarks
Career services leadership finalizes their operating budget.

TAGS: benchmarks, career development, nace insights, surveys, trends and predictions,

Career center budgets for the 2024-25 academic year have increased across the board since 2022-23, according to results of NACE’s 2024-25 Career Services Benchmarks survey. 

At approximately $504,000, the median overall budget has increased by 21% in the last two years. (See Figure 1.)

The median personnel budget for 2024-25 is $401,000, an increase of 14%.  Personnel costs remain around 87% of the total budget. 

On average, respondents indicated that more than three-quarters of their budget comes from institutional funding; approximately 14% comes from fees their centers generate. 

NACE collected data for its 2024-25 Career Services Benchmarks Report from October 9, 2024, to November 30, 2024. NACE surveyed its member institutions, resulting in 551 respondents, which translates to a 29.3% response rate. NACE members at participating institutions can access the full report in MyNACE.

blank default headshot of a user Kevin Gray is an associate editor at NACE. He can be reached at kgray@naceweb.org.

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