Connecticut
Source: IPEDS Completions, 3-yr avg AY 2022–25 (NCES; 2024–25 provisional), bachelor’s degrees, CIP 14 + 11; China 33.2%: PRC Ministry of Education, 2022 bachelor’s graduates by discipline (NSF NCSES S&E Indicators Fig. HED-30: 32.8%, 2020); Population: Census NST-EST2025.
Connecticut at China’s rate would graduate 7,066 engineers a year. It graduates 2,108.
Connecticut produces 2,108 engineering and computer science bachelor's degrees a year out of 21,283 total, a mid-pack engineering producer, from 17 institutions. At China's rate it would produce 7,066. Output is growing (+6.3% over three years). Gap Score: 30% of the China benchmark. Its own economy is projected to open 5,820 engineering, computing and technician jobs a year through 2034; in-state degrees, associate and bachelor's together, cover 41% of them.
The gap against China’s benchmark
Three-year trend: eng+CS share of degrees
Connecticut is missing 4,958 engineers a year at China's rate, roughly 6x the annual output of University of Connecticut.
Where Connecticut’s engineers are made.
17 institutions produce engineering or computer science bachelor’s degrees in Connecticut. The top 8 account for 88% of output.
Every producing institution. Circle area = eng+CS bachelor’s degrees per year
Top producers
| # | Institution | Eng+CS / yr | % of its degrees |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | University of Connecticut | 854 | 15.1% |
| 2 | Yale University | 265 | 16.0% |
| 3 | Central Connecticut State University | 200 | 12.4% |
| 4 | United States Coast Guard Academy | 135 | 54.3% |
| 5 | University of Hartford | 124 | 15.8% |
| 6 | University of New Haven | 106 | 10.6% |
| 7 | Quinnipiac University | 99 | 6.1% |
| 8 | Fairfield University | 68 | 6.0% |
Jobs vs. degrees
Connecticut's own labor-market projection, 2024–2034, for engineers, computer occupations and engineering technicians, against the degrees the state produces at every level.
Openings against output
Where the openings are
| Occupation | Openings / yr |
|---|---|
| Software Developers | 1,110 |
| Computer User Support Specialists | 600 |
| Industrial Engineers | 490 |
| Mechanical Engineers | 440 |
| Computer Systems Analysts | 400 |
| Civil Engineers | 300 |
Coverage: degrees ÷ openings
Openings are the state labor agency’s own 10-year projection: new jobs plus replacing workers who retire or leave the field (BLS method). Not every opening goes to a new graduate, so this is a coverage measure; it does not count vacant positions. Occupations: engineers (SOC 17-2), computer occupations (SOC 15-12) and engineering technicians (SOC 17-3, the associate-degree tier), the jobs CIP 14 + 11 degrees feed; degrees here include associate degrees to match. Source: Connecticut labor-market projections via Projections Central (U.S. Dept. of Labor).
Connecticut's submarine and aerospace hiring outpaces its engineering output
Connecticut's economy rests on defense hardware: Electric Boat's Columbia and Virginia-class submarines, Sikorsky's helicopters, Pratt & Whitney's jet engines, plus a new state-backed quantum push. Hiring demand is rising fast while the state produces about 2,100 engineering and CS bachelor's degrees a year.
The drain.
Connecticut sits between Boston and New York, and its graduates have easy access to both job markets. Retention varies widely by campus, and the labor force that stays is among the oldest in the country and has barely grown in 15 years.
Sources: UConn first-destination outcomes (Class of 2025); CT Mirror first-destination analysis (2023); CBIA population and labor force analysis (2026)
Who’s covering it.
Reporters already cover this, but no one has combined it into a single number the way the Index does.
The fix, in Connecticut.
Service-for-tuition for Electric Boat engineers
Electric Boat needs 1,000 engineers and designers a year and the Navy is already paying tuition for trades training. Extend that logic: service-for-tuition at CT State community colleges and UConn for engineering students who commit years to the Groton yard, in a state where associate degrees are only 11 percent of eng+CS output.
Tie incentives to the pipeline
Connecticut wrote Sikorsky a $75 million deal and committed $121 million to QuantumCT with jobs conditions but no degree-production conditions. Every incentive dollar should carry a funded co-op seat or a tuition-forgiveness slot for a CT student who stays and works in-state.
Pay grads to stay put
UConn keeps 66 percent of its graduates while Yale keeps under 17 percent, and the labor force has grown 2.3 percent in 15 years. A Digital ROTC retention contract, tuition relief in exchange for four years at a Connecticut employer, would keep more graduates working in the state at low cost.
What Digital ROTC would fund
Digital ROTC: federal student loans that cover two years of engineering, computer science, or cybersecurity school at a community college, whether those years end in an associate degree or transfer into a bachelor’s program. The loans are forgiven in full after 24 to 36 months of service in government technology roles. In Connecticut, 11% of engineering-track credentials are associate degrees today. Digital ROTC is built to expand that community-college route.