Nebraska
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.
Nebraska at China’s rate would graduate 4,064 engineers a year. It graduates 865.
Nebraska produces 865 engineering and computer science bachelor's degrees a year out of 12,240 total, among the weakest engineering producers in the country, from 12 institutions. At China's rate it would produce 4,064. Output is shrinking (-5.7% over three years). Gap Score: 21% of the China benchmark. Its own economy is projected to open 2,940 engineering, computing and technician jobs a year through 2034; in-state degrees, associate and bachelor's together, cover 39% of them.
The gap against China’s benchmark
Three-year trend: eng+CS share of degrees
Nebraska is missing 3,198 engineers a year, and its largest producer, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, graduates just 550. Digital ROTC is designed to add a community-college route into engineering here.
Where Nebraska’s engineers are made.
12 institutions produce engineering or computer science bachelor’s degrees in Nebraska. The top 8 account for 99% 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 Nebraska-Lincoln | 550 | 13.4% |
| 2 | University of Nebraska at Omaha | 195 | 8.2% |
| 3 | Wayne State College | 33 | 5.0% |
| 4 | Doane University | 27 | 11.4% |
| 5 | University of Nebraska at Kearney | 19 | 2.2% |
| 6 | Creighton University | 16 | 1.5% |
| 7 | Peru State College | 10 | 4.0% |
| 8 | Concordia University-Nebraska | 7 | 3.0% |
Jobs vs. degrees
Nebraska'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 | 620 |
| Computer User Support Specialists | 310 |
| Computer Occupations, All Other | 190 |
| Computer Systems Analysts | 160 |
| Civil Engineers | 130 |
| Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers | 120 |
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: Nebraska labor-market projections via Projections Central (U.S. Dept. of Labor).
Nebraska's data center incentives have not built an engineering pipeline
Nebraska, the only state where all electricity is publicly owned, has drawn more than $15B of Google money and $2.5B of Meta money to Sarpy County and Lincoln, alongside a $1B-plus federal rebuild of flood-wrecked Offutt Air Force Base. The state ranks third from last in the country for engineering and CS share of degrees, and in July 2026 the governor cut data centers off from state incentives entirely.
The drain.
Nebraska's overall brain drain is easing, but the leak is concentrated exactly where the megaprojects need people. Half of STEM graduates leave, while community college completers overwhelmingly stay.
Sources: UNO Center for Public Affairs Research via Nebraska Examiner and KSNB; NSWERS via 1011 Now; Northeast Community College
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 Nebraska.
Make restored data center credits fund engineering seats
Data centers have taken $519M in property tax exemptions since 2021 and the ImagiNE and Advantage programs cost $1.2B over four years. Pillen's 17-member data center task force, named in August 2026, is the moment to rewrite the terms: any campus that wants credits restored funds Digital ROTC seats, service-for-tuition for Nebraskans who train as network, power and controls engineers and then work in state.
Scale the two-year pipeline
Northeast Community College keeps 91% of its graduates in Nebraska while only half of STEM graduates stay. Put Digital ROTC contracts at Metropolitan, Southeast and Northeast: tuition and a stipend for engineering-technology and CS associate degrees, in exchange for four years with a Nebraska employer, utility or data-center operator, with guaranteed transfer into UNL or UNO.
Attach service contracts to Kiewit Hall
Nebraska raised $170M privately for its engineering expansion, including the $115M Kiewit Hall and $25M from Kiewit Corp. Attach a service contract to that capacity: tuition forgiveness for UNL and UNO engineering students who commit four years to Kiewit, OPPD, Union Pacific, Offutt contractors or a Nebraska startup, and pay them for in-state summers, which NSWERS finds raises retention on its own.
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 Nebraska, 25% of engineering-track credentials are associate degrees today. Digital ROTC is built to expand that community-college route.