Next Article in Journal
Restoring Historical Watercourses to Cities: The Cases of Poznań, Milan, and Beijing
Previous Article in Journal
Fault Detection of Li–Ion Batteries in Electric Vehicles: A Comprehensive Review
Previous Article in Special Issue
The Landscapes of Sustainability in Library and Information Science: Diachronous Citation Perspective
 
 
Font Type:
Arial Georgia Verdana
Font Size:
Aa Aa Aa
Line Spacing:
Column Width:
Background:
Article

How Is Climate Change Impacting the Educational Choices and Career Plans of Undergraduates?

by
Sarah Lynne Stafford
Department of Economics, William & Mary, Williamsburg, VA 23187, USA
Sustainability 2025, 17(14), 6324; https://doi.org/10.3390/su17146324
Submission received: 29 April 2025 / Revised: 25 June 2025 / Accepted: 7 July 2025 / Published: 10 July 2025
(This article belongs to the Collection Sustainable Citizenship and Education)

Abstract

Most current undergraduate students have always lived in a world where climate change has been part of the popular discourse. Surveys show that younger individuals are more worried about climate change than older adults, but there has been relatively little examination of the role that concern is playing in the educational and career plans of undergraduate students. This study presents the results of a survey of undergraduates at a US public university that examines the impact of climate change on what these students choose to study and how they are preparing for post-graduation careers. The results show that the majority of respondents believe climate change is an important social problem, that humans have caused it, and that we have a responsibility to address it. About 15 percent of respondents also report that climate change has impacted their area of study or their post-graduation career plans. Respondents who have taken a class focused on climate change are most likely to report an impact, while respondents who have not discussed climate change in a university class are the least likely to report an impact. If the impact of climate change on educational choices grows as climate change impacts increase, universities should expect to see changing demands in areas of study as well as an increasing need for programming and support to prepare students for climate-oriented careers.

1. Introduction

Climate change is one of the most important global issues that society faces today. Unlike previous generations, who may not have heard about climate change until well into their adult life, most current undergraduate students have grown up with climate change acknowledged as a global problem, discussed regularly in the media and represented in popular culture. Addressing climate change has been part of the United Nations’ mission since 1992 [1], and by the early 2000s, climate change was the subject of popular movies and books, and a frequent topic in the popular press [2,3,4,5,6,7]. The majority of the current cohort of undergraduate students were born in the early to mid 2000s and thus have always lived in a world where climate change was part of their world. The animated children’s movie Ice Age 2: The Meltdown, which addressed the idea of global warming, rising seas, and extinction, was released in 2006 [8]. The popular children’s book series, The Magic School Bus, released The Magic School Bus and the Climate Challenge in 2010 [9]. Many students have also personally experienced the impacts of climate change such as floods, wildfires, and heatwaves.
A 2021 online survey of 10,000 young people aged 16 to 25 years old across ten countries found that 85% were at least moderately worried about climate change—with 59% very or extremely worried—and almost half stated that concern about climate change negatively impacted their daily lives [10]. These sentiments have been echoed in other studies. According to a 2023 online survey of almost 16,000 individuals aged 16 to 25 living in the US, more than 50% reported feeling very or extremely worried about climate change, although only one in three stated that their feelings about climate change negatively affected their daily lives [11]. A 2022 survey of Australians aged 15 to 19 found that almost half were somewhat or extremely concerned about climate change [12]. Looking at a slightly older cohort, a survey of over 2000 students at graduate business schools in 30 countries across six continents conducted in 2021 similarly found that around half of all respondents were very or extremely concerned about climate change [13].
Using data on university enrollment and completion and student debt financing, Galagher et al. [14] found that students who experienced flooding in Houston, Texas due to Hurricane Harvey in 2017 were less likely to take out student loans than students in areas of Houston that did not flood, suggesting that those impacted by the floods were less likely to begin or continue university education. At the university level, they found that Texas institutions with a larger number of students from flooded areas across Texas grew less quickly and had lower graduation rates than institutions that drew more students from non-flooded areas across the state. They also found that such institutions saw relative decreases in students studying in low-earning majors, such as liberal arts and languages, and increases in students studying in high-earning majors, compared to Texas institutions that drew fewer students from the flooded areas. The authors note that these results could be due to enrolled students changing areas of study or due to changes in the composition of students who enroll in universities. Cornaggia et al. [15] also examined the impact of natural disasters on university students using a national dataset that allowed them to match individual students whose parents and homes were impacted by a natural disaster to similar students at the same universities studying the same subjects who were not impacted by a disaster. The authors found that post-disaster, the impacted students performed more poorly than the non-impacted students and were more likely to withdraw from courses.
What about undergraduate students who have not been directly impacted by a climate-related disaster? While surveys show that most individuals in this age range are concerned about climate change regardless of personal experience, and universities are certainly aware that students are interested in their institutions pursuing sustainability [16], there has been relatively little formal examination of how that concern is impacting what current undergraduate students choose to study or their post-graduation career planning. While there have been numerous studies on the college major decision examining a wide range of factors that impact major choice including cost [17,18,19], expected future earnings [20,21], ability [22], grades [23], gender and race [24,25], and economic shocks [26,27], opinions and concerns about climate change have not been included in these studies.
Similarly, there is an extensive literature on how young people choose careers. In addition to the theoretical literature on career decisions (see, for example, [28,29,30,31]), there have been many empirical studies examining particular influences on these decisions, including expected earnings [20,32], family and friends [33], values [34], and concern for the environment in general [35]. There has also been some research into the impact that climate change in particular is having on the career plans of undergraduates. Shealy et al. [36] surveyed about 4600 fourth-year engineering students in the US about their interest in addressing climate change in their post-graduation careers and examined the factors that predicted that interest. The authors found that two of the primary factors that predicted an interest in addressing climate change were whether climate change was an important issue to the respondent personally and whether the respondent felt a responsibility to deal with environmental problems. They also found that respondents in environmental, architectural, and general engineering were more interested in addressing climate change than those in mechanical, electrical, or biomedical engineering.
Kistner and Jimenez [37] surveyed undergraduate students at a regional public college in the US, comparing pre-service teachers to other students with respect to what the students know and believe about climate change. The authors found that pre-service teachers demonstrated a higher level of concern about climate change than other respondents. They also found that the majority of respondents thought it was important that teachers be educated about climate change and educate their students about it, regardless of whether the respondent planned to become a teacher. However, the authors did not examine whether or how climate change impacted the respondent’s decision to become a teacher.
The goal of this study is to look broadly at the role that climate change is playing in the educational and career plans of undergraduate students to begin to address our current gaps in understanding of its impact. Given the escalation of climate change and its consequences, understanding how climate change is affecting students’ interests in different fields of study and post-graduation careers will help universities to better plan to meet student interests and provide supportive career services to help them meet their goals.

2. Methods

In February of 2025, I administered a survey to undergraduate students at William & Mary (W&M), a US public university in the state of Virginia, hereafter referred to as the W&M Climate Change Survey. This survey was reviewed and approved by the W&M Institutional Review Board. I sent all 7026 undergraduate students at the university an email invitation to participate in the survey to their official university email address. One week after the initial email, I sent a follow-up email reminder, and the survey was closed five days after the reminder email. During the 13-day survey window, 2569 students opened the survey and 2414 of those participated in the survey. All students who participated in the survey were given the opportunity to enter a raffle for a set of USD 100 prizes with a one-in-fifty chance of winning. This incentive was clearly stated in both the invitation and the reminder email sent to the students. Because the survey was anonymous, students completing the survey received instructions on how to enter the raffle. To participate in the raffle, students did have to provide an email address and, if selected to win a prize, had to provide their name to collect it. Of the 2414 students completing the survey, 1816 entered the raffle. I randomly selected 38 to receive a prize to ensure a one-in-fifty chance of winning.
Students who clicked on the survey link in the invitation email were presented with a brief statement about the general purpose of the survey (as shown in the survey instrument provided in Supplementary S1) and then required to attest that they were at least 18 years old and provide their consent to continue to the survey questions. A total of 2414 students attested that they met the age requirement and gave their consent. However, respondents were not forced to answer any of the questions and, of the 2414, 22 left all the questions blank. Thus, of the 7026 undergraduates at William & Mary enrolled in the Spring of 2025, 2392 or 34% responded at least in part to the survey.
The survey instrument contained 56 questions which focused on area of study and career plans, undergraduate experiences including exposure to climate issues in classes, beliefs about climate change, and demographic characteristics. Some questions were conditional on previous answers so that not all respondents were asked all 56 questions. When respondents began the survey, they were aware only of the survey length and its general focus on area of study and post-graduation plans and did not know that it would also ask questions related to climate change. There was some decrease in the response rate to questions across the survey and respondents could selectively skip individual questions. While 2392 respondents answered the first question on major area of study, 2281 answered the eleventh question on intended post-graduation plans, 2198 answered the first question related to climate change (the 26th question overall), and 2152 answered the 48th question on planned graduate date. Thus, there was some drop-off in response, but the overall level of response remained high, with just over 10% of respondents dropping out before the end of the survey. This dropout rate is slightly lower than the rate reported by Lewandowski [11].
The questions in the survey were developed after reviewing several survey instruments used in other relevant studies [35,36,37,38,39,40]. The two surveys that best align with the objective of this study are Malgwi et al. [40] and Shealy et al. [36], which focus on the factors that impact major and career decisions, although only the latter examines the impact of climate change on those decisions. I selected questions from these surveys that were appropriate for answering my research questions, with minor changes where necessary. A range of different question types were used, including selecting one or more answers from a menu of choices, free response, and a five-element Likert scale of agreement/disagreement with a statement. Prior to fielding the survey, I piloted a draft version of the survey with a focus group of sixteen students who were asked to take the survey and then discuss their experience with it. For the most part, the focus group felt that the questions were easy to understand and answer, although based on feedback I modified the wording of some questions and eliminated two somewhat redundant questions to shorten the survey. The most significant change was due to many in the focus group expressing uneasiness at being asked to provide the zip code of their primary residence, as they were concerned that it might be used to profile them, but all felt comfortable providing the name and state of their hometown, so the latter was requested in the final version of the survey. In the focus group I also discussed various methods of inviting students to participate in the survey. The consensus was that an email invitation would be effective. When asked about the raffle incentive, several students stated that they would answer the survey regardless of the incentive, so I was not particularly surprised that not all respondents entered the raffle.
The survey was administered and responses were collected using the Qualtrics survey application. The survey responses were downloaded from Qualtrics and any identifying information, such as IP addresses, was deleted from the dataset. Some questions with free responses were coded to provide standardized answers. To ensure consistency in coding, two student research assistants coded each response and their codes were compared. Any discrepancy across coding was then discussed with me before finalizing the coding. The data were then analyzed using standard statistical techniques in Stata 18.0SE as described in more detail in the Section 3.

3. Results

Respondents were asked to provide basic demographic information including gender, race, year in school, and financial aid status. Table 1 presents a summary of these characteristics for the respondents and compares them with the corresponding characteristics of the W&M student body.
With respect to class year, the respondents are quite well-matched to the overall population of undergraduate students at W&M. As a state-supported public university, W&M must reserve approximately 60% of its undergraduate admission slots for students who reside in the state of Virginia. Survey respondents are also relatively well-matched to the overall population with respect to Virginia residency. With respect to gender, however, the respondents are significantly more likely to be female. With respect to race, the respondents are roughly similar to the student population, although respondents are more likely to not provide racial information or identify with one of the provided categories. With respect to financial aid, respondents are less likely to report receiving financial aid of some sort than the population. Because of these differences in the sample of respondents and the overall population, in reporting results I do consider the impact of gender, race, and financial aid status, and identify instances where there are statistically significant differences in responses based on these categories.
Another important defining characteristic of undergraduate students is their area of study. W&M offers 49 different undergraduate “majors”, and students must choose at least one, and no more than two, areas in which to major. All respondents to the survey were asked to identify their current or intended major or majors and could also indicate that they are currently “undecided”, as W&M students do not have to declare an initial major until the end of their 2nd year. Since students can change majors and add a major at any point before graduation, to compare respondents to the overall population with respect to major choice I compared 4th-year respondents who will graduate in 2025 to the percentage of undergraduate degrees awarded in each major from 2021 to 2024. The percentage of degrees awarded in a particular major ranges from well under 1% to just over 8%. Table 2 lists the top 15 majors based on degrees conferred and compares the percentage of 4th-year respondents majoring in each of those areas (including double majors) to the percentage of degrees conferred. Note that these 15 majors represent over 70% of the degrees awarded and the other majors each represent less than 2% of degrees awarded from 2021 to 2024. (S2 provides these data for all majors offered by W&M).
Of the top 15 majors in terms of degrees conferred, 14 of those are also in the top 15 majors reported by the 4th-year respondents. The only differences are in Mathematics, which is the 12th most popular major during the 2021 to 2024 period, but is the 19th most often reported major for 4th-year respondents, and Data Science, which is the 15th most popular major reported on the survey by 4th-year respondents, but is the 18th most popular major in terms of degrees conferred between 2021 and 2024. This latter difference is likely due to the fact that Data Science is a relatively new major, established in 2019.
Since a respondent’s major was the first question asked on the survey and demographic information was gathered near the end, I also examined whether respondents who stopped answering survey questions at some point differed with respect to major from those who completed the survey. The number of respondents who dropped out before reaching the demographic questions in each major is roughly proportionate to the number of respondents in each major, with one exception. Undecided respondents are more likely to drop out than one would expect given their numbers, with Undecided respondents representing 2% of those who answered the question on majors, but 6% of those who did not provide information on expected graduation date. Because the majority of the questions in the survey have to do with major choice and career plans, Undecided majors may have felt that the survey questions were not relevant to them or are too difficult to answer given that their major plans are not yet established.

3.1. Respondents’ Beliefs About Climate Change

To get a sense of students’ general attitudes towards climate change, I asked respondents to rate whether they agreed or disagreed with four statements using a 5-point Likert Scale (Strongly Disagree, Moderately Disagree, Neutral, Moderately Agree, and Strongly Agree). Figure 1 shows their responses. A total of 218 respondents chose not to answer any of the questions about climate change. However, all but one of those individuals also chose not to answer any of the subsequent questions in the survey, and many of them did not answer previous questions, so it is likely that many of these individuals stopped answering due to the length of the survey, not the content of the climate change questions.
There is broad consensus across respondents that climate change is an important issue that requires policy action. A total of 85% of respondents agree that climate change is one of the most important social problems that the world is currently facing, and only 7% disagree. An even higher percentage of respondents—94%—acknowledge that climate change is caused by humans, with less than 2% of respondents disagreeing. There is a similar level of agreement that we should be taking stronger actions on climate change—a statement that 92% of respondents agree with. There is less agreement on whether we can pursue sustainability without lowering our standard of living, with 10% disagreeing and 13% taking a neutral position. Respondents are least optimistic regarding our ability to innovate our way to a solution to climate change, with 27% disagreeing that human ingenuity will solve the problem and 32% taking a neutral position.
There is also reasonable diversity in individual answers, as shown by the correlations between the answers to these five questions. The strongest correlation is between the first and third questions—the importance of climate change and the need to take stronger actions on it—with a correlation coefficient between the two Likert scales of 0.73. The second and third questions also show a strong correlation of 0.63, and the first and second questions have a moderate correlation of 0.56. However, the correlations between the last two questions and the first three are weak, with all other pair-wise correlations having coefficients of less than 0.30 in absolute value.
While there are some statistically significant differences in the answers to these questions based on gender, race, and financial aid status, those differences are generally not quantitatively large. For example, if one assigns an ordinal value to each point on the Likert scale—Strongly Disagree = 1, Moderately Disagree = 2, Neutral = 3, Moderately Agree = 4, and Strongly Agree = 5—the average score for females responding to the statement “Climate change is one of the most important social problems” is 4.32, while the average score for non-females is 4.18. S3 presents the average Likert scores for the climate change opinion statements shown in Figure 1 broken down by various demographic characteristics.
Both a statistical and a quantitative difference in responses is evident when grouping respondents based on whether they report having taken a class where climate change is a primary focus. About 16% of the respondents who answer the climate change opinion questions report having taken a college class that focused on climate change. A total of 94% of the respondents who have taken such a class agree that climate change is one of the most important social problems, while only 83% of respondents who have not taken a climate-focused class do. None of the respondents who have taken a climate change class disagree with the statement that humans have caused climate change (3% are neutral, the rest agree), and 97% agree that stronger policy action is necessary. For those who have not taken a climate-focused class, 2% disagree that climate change was caused by humans and 5% are neutral, while 90% agree that stronger policy action is necessary. However, there is no statistically significant difference in the way that respondents who have taken a climate-focused class respond to the statements about whether there is a tradeoff between sustainability and the standard of living or the ability of human ingenuity to respond to climate change. It is also important to note that these differences are correlations, and it is not clear if there is a causal relationship given the real possibility of a selection bias, i.e., that respondents who believe that climate change is a serious issue are more likely to take a class focusing on it.
For respondents who have not taken a climate-change-focused class but have discussed climate change or climate justice in a college class, there is also a statistical and quantitative difference in responses compared to respondents who have not discussed climate change or climate justice in class. Once again, these are also correlations and there is no evidence of causation, although one could argue that there may be less of a selection issue as climate was not the focus of any particular class taken by these respondents. Of the 84% of respondents who have not taken a class that focuses on climate change, about 60% (half of all respondents overall) have taken a class where climate change is discussed. As shown in Figure 2, 88% of these respondents agree that climate change is one of the most important social problems while only 79% of respondents that have not discussed climate change in class do. A total of 94% of respondents who have discussed climate change in class agree that humans have caused climate change, compared to 92% who have not discussed climate change. With respect to the need for stronger policy to address climate change, 94% of those who have discussed climate change in class agree, compared to 90% who do not. Those who have discussed climate change were also more optimistic about our ability to achieve sustainability without lowering standards of living than those who have not discussed it, with 80% saying it is possible compared to 74%. However, those who have not discussed climate change in class are more likely to agree that human ingenuity could solve climate change (47%) than those who have discussed it (37%).
As Table 3 shows, the number of respondents that have taken a climate-change-focused class and the number that have discussed climate change in class increases with greater lengths of time in school. By the 4th year, three-quarters of respondents have discussed climate change and/or climate justice in one or more classes and a quarter have taken a climate-focused class. This implies that 25% of undergraduate students at W&M will graduate without having discussed climate change or climate justice in a class setting, even though 85% of respondents feel that climate change is one of the most important social problems that we face.
Focusing on 4th-year respondents, female respondents are statistically more likely to have taken a climate-focused class (according to a two-sided, two-sample test of proportions with a 95% confidence level), with 25% percent of female 4th-years having taken such a class compared to 15% of non-females. There is no statistically significant difference in the probability that 4th-year female respondents have been in a class that discussed climate change or climate justice, nor is there a statistically significant difference in the probability of having taken a climate-focused class or having discussed climate change in class between 4th-year White and non-White respondents.
Respondents were also asked to rate a series of statements about how climate change is impacting them personally using a 5-point Likert Scale ranging from Strongly Disagree to Strongly Agree. As shown in Figure 3, the majority of respondents agree with the first three statements—that climate change is important to them personally, that they feel a responsibility to deal with environmental problems, and that they can contribute to a sustainable future. For these three statements there is also a statistically and quantitatively significant difference in the responses of females relative to non-females, with a higher level of agreement among female respondents to all three questions (details provided in S3). The percentage of females who say that climate change is personally important is 80% compared to 70% of non-females. Similarly, 73% of females say they have a responsibility to deal with environmental problems and 78% believe that they can contribute to a sustainable future, compared to 60% and 67% of non-females, respectively. There is also a statistically and quantitatively significant difference in the responses of White and non-White respondents to the statement about the personal importance of climate change, with 79% of White respondents agreeing compared to 71% of non-White respondents. There is no statistically significant difference between White and non-White respondents with respect to the responsibility to deal with environmental problems or the ability to contribute to a sustainable future.
When asked about whether climate change would or had impacted their major or career plans, the majority of respondents indicate that it would or had not, with only 7% of respondents agreeing that the pursuit of sustainability would threaten career prospects, only 15% agreeing that climate change had impacted their major choice, and only 17% agreeing that it had impacted their career plans. These responses also differ somewhat with gender and race, but the only statistically and quantitatively significant difference is in the 82% of White respondents who believe that sustainability does not threaten their career prospects compared to 75% of non-White respondents.
There are no statistically significant differences in responses for 4th-year respondents compared to underclassmen, except for the statement about concerns over climate change impacting major choice: 4th-years are less likely to agree with this statement, with only 13% agreeing compared to 16% of underclassmen. However, there are statistically and quantitatively significant differences in responses for respondents who have taken a climate-focused class compared to other respondents. As shown in Figure 4, respondents who have taken a climate-focused class are more likely to agree that climate change is important to them personally, that they have a responsibility to deal with environmental problems, and that they have the ability to contribute to a sustainable future than respondents who have not taken a climate-focused class. Of those who have not taken a climate-focused class but have discussed climate change or climate justice in a class, the level of agreement with these three statements is also statistically higher than the level of agreement for respondents who have not discussed climate change in class. Note again that these results are correlations and there is no evidence of a causal link, as respondents who are more interested in climate change are likely to be seeking out classes where climate change is part of the curriculum.
The same pattern also holds for the last two statements shown in Figure 4. Respondents who have taken a climate-focused class are about three times more likely to agree that climate change has impacted their major choice and/or career plans than respondents who have not taken a climate-focused class. Respondents who have discussed climate change in class are also more likely to agree with these statements than respondents who have not, although the difference in the level of agreement is smaller (but still statistically significant). The one reversal of this pattern is the statement that “pursuit of sustainability will threaten jobs for people like me”. Respondents who have taken a climate-focused class are the least likely to agree with this statement, while those who have not discussed climate in a class are the most likely. However, these differences, while statistically significant, are not particularly large—4% for the former and 8% for the latter.

3.2. Impact of Climate Change on Major Choice

A total of 329 respondents agree with the statement that concerns over climate change impacted their major choice. These respondents were asked to elaborate on that impact, and 139 of them do so. The most cited impact is the decision to add a second major, with 83 respondents selecting this impact. The most popular additional major is Environmental Science and Policy, which was added by over half of these respondents. A total of 45 respondents indicate that they added a minor, with the most popular addition also being Environmental Science and Policy. Finally, 31 respondents indicate that they changed their major, with the most popular changes to Biology, Geology, Environmental Science and Policy, and Integrative Conservation. Note that respondents could indicate more than one impact, with several indicating adding a major/minor and changing their major.
These respondents were also asked to briefly explain why they made these changes, and 121 do so. Their responses are quite varied. Many of them express an interest in learning more about climate change and other environmental issues. Several also indicate that they chose a field where they will be able to address climate change or switched from a field that would not prepare them to address climate change.
“I believe that chemistry can help solve many problems whether it be pollution, energy production, or cleaning up the environment”.
“I realized that a career and a major in German would not have the impact on the world that I wanted it to have”.
Several indicate adding an additional major to make them more successful at impacting change.
“I chose the policy track because I figured there was no sense in pursuing STEM if I couldn’t communicate my science to people in a meaningful way”.
“I was highly interested in biology, but found passion in the intersection of science and policy and applying science to real issues!”
“I originally considered working towards a career in dentistry, but after taking some introductory biology courses I realized that I was much more passionate about environmental issues rather than the hard science. I also did not want to work in a lab for my career and enjoy office culture, which is why I also decided to major in economics to give myself more career options which would hopefully intersect in the environmental sphere”.
A few indicate that they want to avoid contributing to climate change.
“My interest in high school focused on computer science, but the industry is very profit-focused in general. Data centers and technology contributes to climate change and environmental issues. Majoring in Biology opens up the possibility of research beyond college and a more sustainable tech focus career wise”.
A few also indicate that they made the change to be more able to personally withstand the impacts of climate change.
“Better job security and income”.
“I wanted to double major to expand employment opportunities”.

3.3. Impact of Climate Change on Career Plans

A total of 371 respondents agree with the statement that concerns over climate change are impacting their career plans. As shown in Table 4, the majority of these respondents also indicate that climate change has their impacted major choice.
Of the 371 that agree that climate change has impacted career choice, 334 respondents elaborate on that impact. The most cited impact is on the type of work the respondents want to do, with 225 respondents selecting this impact. This was followed by 185 respondents indicating that climate change has impacted the sector in which they want to work (respondents could select more than one impact). A total of 145 respondents indicate that climate change has impacted where they are willing to live and 67 indicate that climate change has impacted their decision to go to graduate school.
These respondents were also asked to briefly explain how their career plans have changed, and 271 do so. These comments echo several of the themes expressed above with respect to major changes—both an interest in addressing climate change in their career and avoiding contributing to the problem.
“Climate change has encouraged me to pursue being a teacher because I feel like education is important to helping us combat climate change and schools are a good place to implement sustainable practices”.
“Climate change has influenced my career plans in medicine by highlighting the urgent need for healthcare professionals who can address the health impacts of a changing environment”.
“After originally wanting to study fashion business management, I quickly pivoted to the opposite side. I‘m hoping to fight the environmental degradation the fashion industry causes”.
“As a geology major, I don’t want to work for oil/petroleum companies because of climate change, along with the bloody history of oil”.
“I actively am choosing to not apply for jobs at companies that are sustainably irresponsible or use greenwashing”.
Several respondents also express the desire to work somewhere that will be less impacted by climate change:
“Climate change has really just impacted where I may want to work or live, because if those places become uninhabitable, they are no longer options and the people who are currently there will be forced to adapt or leave”.
“I do not want to live in states where mitigating climate change is not a priority for the governing body”.
With respect to plans for further education, respondents said the following:
“Climate change has made me want to go to graduate school to pursue a PhD in materials science in order to better develop renewable energy technologies”.
“Environmental concerns over cities and transportation have led me to pursue a career in urban and environmental planning, which I am going to graduate school for next year”.
“I no longer want to ‘waste time’ in graduate school. I want to make a difference as soon as possible with my skills. I also want to work in conservation now to help the planet”.
Only one respondent explicitly mentions financial concerns:
“I now want a job that provides higher pay so I have a monetary buffer in case anything goes horribly wrong”.
Finally, several responses were particularly profound:
“I want to enjoy the earth as it is while I still can and capture it for posterity”.
“Current climate catastrophes have caused me to question the certainty about the previously solid life plan for my future”.
“Climate change has impacted everyone’s career plans, whether they realize it or not”.

4. Discussion

Among the respondents to this survey, there is strong agreement about the importance of climate change as a social issue and the responsibility of humans, who have caused it, to try and solve it. This is in contrast to the opinions of Americans overall, only 72% of whom believe climate change is happening, according to a 2024 survey, and even fewer of whom believe that it is something that we should be doing more to address [41,42]. This difference is consistent with the finding that younger individuals in the US are more concerned about climate change than older individuals, with 85% of individuals under 30 saying that they are somewhat or very concerned about climate change, compared to 60% of people 65 or older, in a 2024 national US survey conducted by CBS News [43]. Interestingly, in this survey, 92% of respondents agreed that “we should be taking stronger actions to address climate change”, while a 2023 multi-institution study of undergraduates conducted by Inside Higher Education and Kaplan found that only 71% of their respondents believed the US government is doing too little to reduce the effects of climate change [16].
This survey also reveals a statistically significant difference in the responses of females and non-females—female respondents are more likely to feel a responsibility to deal with climate change and they also are more likely to state that they can contribute to solutions to climate change. A similar difference was found in the 2024 CBS News survey, with 79% of women reporting that they were somewhat or very concerned about climate change compared to 66% of men [43]. Interestingly, in the W&M survey, White respondents are more likely to say that climate change is a personally important issue than non-White respondents, while in the 2024 CBS News survey, White individuals were less concerned about climate change than either Black or Hispanic individuals [43]. Of course, our sample is both young and enrolled in a selective university, compared to the broader US population, so there could be a number of underlying reasons for this different finding.
I also found consistent differences between respondents who have taken classes focusing on climate change and those who have not with respect to their beliefs about climate change and how climate change has impacted or is expected to impact their choices and plans, although the survey provides no evidence that this is a causal effect rather than merely a correlation. The fact that there is also a difference in beliefs and impacts for respondents who have taken a class where climate change or climate justice is discussed relative to those who have not discussed such issues in any classes suggests that there could be a causal mechanism, not just a correlation, but additional study is needed to confirm this. While a qualitative study by Greisinger et al. [44] suggests that course content about sustainability can amplify intrinsic interest and create new interest in environmental sustainability careers, there is a lack of evidence showing a strong causal link between climate change content in courses and changes in career plans or behavior. For example, while Cordero et al. [38] find that participants in a year-long intensive course on global climate change self-report decreases in carbon emissions as a result of the class 5 or more years after taking the course, the study does not include a control group or any correction for potential selection-bias in course enrollees.
Regardless of whether there is a causal link, given the importance of the issue to undergraduate students, as shown in this and other studies [12,13,36,37,39], university educators should integrate discussions of climate change and climate justice more thoroughly into classes across the curriculum so that all students have the opportunity to study the issue in more detail. For those with an intrinsic interest in the topic, such courses are likely to amplify those interests and perhaps help them to identify related career paths that they might want to take. For those who are concerned about climate change but do not have much formal understanding of it, such classes could help identify explicit actions students could take, which in turn could help to alleviate climate anxiety [45,46].
The majority of respondents in this survey are not consciously making major choices or career plans based on concerns about climate change. However, about one in six do report that climate change has impacted their choice of what to study, and about one in seven report that climate change is impacting their post-graduation career planning. Respondents who do report making educational plans based on climate change are most likely to add a second major in an area that directly addresses climate issues or concepts or to switch to such a major, with the most popular areas being Environmental Science and Policy, Biology, Geology, and Integrative Conservation. If the impact of climate change on educational choices grows as climate change impacts increase, universities should expect to see additional demand in these areas of study.
The reported impact of climate change on post-graduation career plans is more varied, but the most reported impact is an interest in addressing climate change in one’s career. Assuming that this trend will grow as climate change impacts increase, university career services may need to develop specific programming and support to prepare students for such careers and to assist students in connecting with relevant employers. Other impacts include changing students’ interest in where they are willing to work post-graduation and changing the incentives for undertaking graduate education in both positive and negative ways. The ramifications of these impacts on universities and their career services programs are less clear but warrant further exploration.

Limitations of This Study

In addition to the fact that this study over-represents females and under-represents some races and students on financial aid, there could also be a possible bias in the climate change opinions of respondents based on individuals who drop out of the survey. However, only 30 respondents stopped answering the survey when climate-related questions were introduced, and a further 16 respondents dropped out during the course of the climate-related questions, suggesting a relatively small possible bias, even if all of these dropouts are attributable to a lack of concern about climate change.
Another limitation of this study is that it only includes responses from students at one US institution. Given the complex matching process in the US between students and institutions, the results presented here could be institution-specific and not generalizable to US students in general or students in other countries. The intent is to replicate this survey in the near future at a number of different types of higher education institutions across the US.

5. Conclusions

Today’s undergraduate students are very aware of and concerned about climate change and how it will impact their future. However, there is currently very little evidence on how these concerns are impacting what students choose to study at university and how they are preparing for post-graduation careers. This exploratory study of undergraduates at a US public university found that the majority of respondents believe climate change is an important social problem, that humans have caused it, and that we have a responsibility to address it, echoing results of other studies on young adults in the US. The results also show that currently only a subset of students at the surveyed institution—around 15 percent—report that concerns over climate change have impacted their area of study or their post-graduation career plans, although given that these students have grown up with climate change and its predicted future consequences as part of the public discourse, climate change may have subconsciously impacted those choices as well.
The study also finds that the reported impact of climate change on area of study and post-graduation career plans is correlated with the level of education about climate change respondents had received while at university. Respondents who have taken a class focused on climate change are most likely to report an impact, while respondents who have not discussed climate change in any university classes are least likely to report an impact. While these results are correlations and there is no proof of causation, one might expect that exposure to more concrete information about climate change’s current and predicted consequences on global temperatures, weather, human health, or the economy could impact university students’ plans for the future; thus, universities need to adapt both in terms of educational offerings and career services.
These results, while informative, are from one US public institution. Additional research is needed to determine whether these results are generalizable to other institutions in the US as well as to other countries, and to better understand the extent to which climate change education is causing these impacts.

Supplementary Materials

The following supporting information can be downloaded at: https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/su17146324/s1, Supplementary S1. Major and Career Survey. Supplementary S2. Respondents Major Choice Relative to Undergraduate Degrees Conferred by W&M, 2021–2024. Supplementary S3. Likert scores on climate change statements broken out by demographic characteristics.

Funding

This research received no external funding.

Institutional Review Board Statement

The William & Mary Institutional Review Board determined that this survey was exempt from regulations governing research involving human subjects as it only includes survey procedures in which the identity of the human subjects cannot readily be ascertained.

Informed Consent Statement

Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study.

Data Availability Statement

Dataset available on request from the author.

Acknowledgments

The author thanks Nicole Sloan, Kathryn Lanouette, and Peter McHenry for their helpful comments and suggestions. The author also thanks the W&M students who participated in the pilot focus group and answered the survey. Emeline Bell and Erin Degnan provided excellent research assistance.

Conflicts of Interest

The author declares no conflicts of interest.

References

  1. United Nations Global Issues. Climate Change. Available online: https://www.un.org/en/global-issues/climate-change (accessed on 26 June 2025).
  2. Atwood, M. Oryx and Crake: A Novel; Nan A. Talese: New York, NY, USA, 2003. [Google Scholar]
  3. Emmerich, R. The Day After Tomorrow [Film]; Twentieth Century Fox: Los Angeles, CA, USA, 2004. [Google Scholar]
  4. Business Week. Global Warming. Business Week, 18 December 2006.
  5. Gore, A. An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It; Rodale Pres: New York, NY, USA, 2006. [Google Scholar]
  6. Guggenheim, D. An Inconvenient Truth [Film]; Lawrence Bender Productions: Beverly Hills, CA, USA; Participant Productions: Beverly Hills, CA, USA, 2006. [Google Scholar]
  7. McKie, R. This is the Moment When the World Seems to Get the Message at Last. Observer Magazine, 24 December 2006. Available online: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2006/dec/24/globalwarming.climatechange#:~:text=issued%20with%20challenge-,This%20article%20is%20more%20than%2018%20years%20old (accessed on 28 April 2025).
  8. Saldanha, C. Ice Age: The Meltdown [Film]; Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment LLC: Los Angeles, CA, USA, 2006. [Google Scholar]
  9. Cole, J. The Magic School Bus and the Climate Challenge; Scholastic Press: New York, NY, USA, 2010. [Google Scholar]
  10. Hickman, C.; Marks, E.; Pihkala, P.; Clayton, S.; Lewandowski, R.E.; Mayall, E.E.; Wray, B.; Mellor, C.; van Susteren, L. Climate Anxiety in Children and Young People and Their Beliefs About Government Responses to Climate Change: A Global Survey. Lancet Planet. Health 2021, 5, e863–e873. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  11. Lewandowski, R.E.; Clayton, S.D.; Olbrich, L.; Sakshaug, J.W.; Wray, B.; Schwartz, S.E.; Augustinavicius, J.; Howe, P.D.; Parnes, M.; Wright, S.; et al. Climate Emotions, Thoughts, and Plans among US Adolescents and Young Adults: A Cross-sectional Descriptive Survey and Analysis by Political Party Identification and Self-reported Exposure to Severe Weather Events. Lancet Planet. Health 2024, 8, e879–e893. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  12. Teo, S.M.; Gao, C.X.; Brennan, N.; Fava, N.; Simmons, M.B.; Baker, D.; Zbukvic, I.; Rickwood, D.J.; Brown, E.; Smith, C.L.; et al. Climate Change Concerns Impact on Young Australians’ Psychological Distress and Outlook for the Future. J. Environ. Psychol. 2024, 93, 102209. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  13. Cort, T.; Gilbert, K.; DeCew, S.; Goldberg, M.; Wilkinson, E.; Fitzgerald, H. Rising Leaders on Social and Environmental Sustainability; Yale Program on Climate Change Communication: New Haven, CT, USA, 2022. [Google Scholar]
  14. Gallagher, E.A.; Billings, S.B.; Ricketts, L.R. Human Capital Investment after the Storm. Rev. Financ. Stud. 2023, 36, 2651–2684. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  15. Cornaggia, J.; Cornaggia, K.; Xia, H. Natural Disasters, Financial Shocks, and Human Capital. Manag. Sci. 2025, accepted. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  16. Ezarik, M. Actions and Hopes of the Sustainability-Focused Student. Inside Higher Ed, 2 January 2023. Available online: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/students/academics/2023/01/02/sustainability-actions-students-take-and-want-their-colleges (accessed on 28 April 2025).
  17. Anderson, D.M.; Broton, K.M.; Monaghan, D.B. Seeking STEM: The Causal Impact of Need-Based Grant Aid on Undergraduates’ Field of Study. J. High. Educ. 2023, 94, 921–944. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  18. Denning, J.T.; Turley, P. Was that SMART? Institutional Financial Incentives and Field of Study. J. Hum. Resour. 2017, 52, 152–186. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  19. Stange, K. Differential Pricing in Undergraduate Education: Effects on Degree Production by Field. J. Policy Anal. Manag. 2015, 34, 107–135. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  20. Arcidiacono, P.; Hotz, V.J.; Maurel, A.; Romano, T. Ex Ante Returns and Occupational Choice. J. Political Econ. 2020, 128, 4475–4522. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  21. Wiswall, M.; Zafar, B. Determinants of College Major Choice: Identification using an Information Experiment. Rev. Econ. Stud. 2015, 82, 791–824. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  22. Arcidiacono, P.; Hotz, V.J.; Kang, S. Modeling college major choices using elicited measures of expectations and counterfactuals. J. Econom. 2012, 166, 3–16. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  23. Li, H.; Xia, X. Grades as Signals of Comparative Advantage: How Letter Grades Affect Major Choices. J. Econ. Behav. Organ. 2024, 227, 106717. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  24. Kaganovich, M.; Taylor, M.; Xiao, R. Gender Differences in Persistence in a Field of Study: This Isn’t All about Grades. J. Hum. Cap. 2023, 17, 503–556. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  25. Gemici, A.; Wiswall, M. Evolution Of Gender Differences In Post-Secondary Human Capital Investments: College Majors. Int. Econ. Rev. 2014, 55, 23–56. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  26. Han, L.; Winters, J.V. Industry Fluctuations and College Major Choices: Evidence from an Energy Boom and Bust. Econ. Educ. Rev. 2020, 77, 101996. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  27. Liu, S.; Sun, W.; Winters, J. Up In Stem, Down In Business: Changing College Major Decisions With The Great Recession. Contemp. Econ. Policy 2019, 37, 476–491. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  28. Hodkinson, P.; Sparkes, A.C. Careership: A Sociological Theory of Career Decision Making. Br. J. Sociol. Educ. 1997, 18, 29–44. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  29. Law, B. Career-learning Space: New-dots Thinking for Careers Education. Br. J. Guid. Couns. 1999, 27, 35–54. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  30. Lent, R.W. A Social Cognitive View of Career Development and Counseling in Career Development and Counseling: Putting Theory and Research to Work; John Wiley & Sons: Hoboken, NJ, USA, 2005. [Google Scholar]
  31. Pryor, R.; Bright, J. The Chaos Theory of Careers. J. Employ. Couns. 2011, 48, 163–166. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  32. Kniveton, B.H. The Influences and Motivations on Which Students Base their Choice of Career. Res. Educ. 2004, 72, 7–59. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  33. Auyeung, P.; Sands, J. Factors Influencing Accounting Students’ Career Choice: A Cross-Cultural Validation Study. Account. Educ. Int. J. 1997, 6, 13–23. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  34. Ward, S. Choosing Money Over Meaningful Work: Examining Relative Job Preferences for High Compensation Versus Meaningful Work. Personal. Soc. Psychol. Bull. 2024, 50, 1128–1148. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  35. Thomas, I. Influences on Career Choice: Considerations for the Environmental Profession. Environ. Pract. 2017, 19, 115–127. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  36. Shealy, T.; Katz, A.; Godwin, A. Predicting Engineering Students’ Desire to Address Climate Change in their Careers: An Exploratory Study Using Responses from a US National Survey. Environ. Educ. Res. 2021, 27, 1054–1079. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  37. Kistner, M.; Jiménez, J. Concerned but Confused: University Students’ Knowledge and Perceptions of Climate Change, and How They Plan to Address it in their Future Personal and Professional Lives. SUNY J. Scholarsh. Engagem. 2023, 3, 1. [Google Scholar]
  38. Cordero, E.C.; Centeno, D.; Todd, A.M. The Role of Climate Change Education on Individual Lifetime Carbon Emissions. PLoS ONE 2020, 15, e0206266. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  39. Jordan, R.C.; Sorensen, A.E.; Gray, S.A. What Undergraduate Students Know and What They Want to Learn About in Climate Change Education. PLoS Sustain. Transform. 2023, 2, e0000055. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  40. Malgwi, C.A.; Howe, M.A.; Burnaby, P.A. Influences on Students’ Choice of College Major. J. Educ. Bus. 2005, 80, 275–282. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  41. Climate Opinion Maps. Yale Program on Climate Change Communication. 2024. Available online: https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/visualizations-data/ycom-us-2024/ (accessed on 26 June 2025).
  42. Howe, P.D.; Mildenberger, M.; Marlon, J.R.; Leiserowitz, A. Geographic Variation in Opinions on Climate Change at State and Local Scales in the USA. Nat. Clim. Change 2015, 5, 596–603. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  43. CBS News Poll Finds Big Majority of Americans Support US Taking Steps to Reduce Climate Change. Available online: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/poll-reduce-climate-change-extreme-weather-04-21-2024/ (accessed on 26 June 2025).
  44. Griesinger, T.; Reid, K.; Knight, D.; Katz, A.; Somers, J. Inspiring Sustainability in Undergraduate Engineering Programs. Sustainability 2024, 16, 5026. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  45. Clayton, S.; Parnes, M.F. Anxiety and Activism in Response to Climate Change. Curr. Opin. Psychol. 2025, 62, 101996. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [PubMed]
  46. Schwartz, S.E.; Benoit, L.; Clayton, S.; Parnes, M.F.; Swenson, L.; Lowe, S.R. Climate Change Anxiety and Mental Health: Environmental Activism as Buffer. Curr. Psychol. 2022, 42, 16708–16721. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [PubMed]
Figure 1. Respondents’ opinions on climate change.
Figure 1. Respondents’ opinions on climate change.
Sustainability 17 06324 g001
Figure 2. Respondents’ beliefs about climate change broken down by exposure to climate change in college classrooms.
Figure 2. Respondents’ beliefs about climate change broken down by exposure to climate change in college classrooms.
Sustainability 17 06324 g002
Figure 3. Personal impact of climate change.
Figure 3. Personal impact of climate change.
Sustainability 17 06324 g003
Figure 4. Differences in personal impact of climate change based on classroom exposure to climate concepts.
Figure 4. Differences in personal impact of climate change based on classroom exposure to climate concepts.
Sustainability 17 06324 g004
Table 1. Descriptive statistics of respondents compared to survey population.
Table 1. Descriptive statistics of respondents compared to survey population.
RespondentsW&M Undergraduate Students a
Gender
Female70% b59%
Male30% b41%
Race
White58%62%
Black3%5%
Hispanic7%9%
Asian12%12%
Multiracial8%7%
Other<1%4%
Not Answered/Unknown11%1%
Year in School
4th Year24% c26%
3rd Year25% c25%
2nd Year25% c25%
1st Year25% c25%
Financial Aid Status d52%65% e
Virginia Residents61% f63%
Totals may not sum due to rounding. Unless otherwise indicated, source is W&M Climate Change Survey. a Source: W&M Office of Institutional Research, Fall 2024 Undergraduate Enrollment Statistics. b Percentage of the 2048 respondents who identified as either male or female. Does not include survey respondents who indicated non-binary or chose not to answer. c Percentage of the 2152 respondents who provided an intended graduation date. d Includes merit-based aid, need-based aid, military aid, and student loans. e Source: W&M Financial Aid office. f Percentage of the 2109 respondents who provided residence information.
Table 2. Degree choices of 4th-year respondents compared to degrees conferred.
Table 2. Degree choices of 4th-year respondents compared to degrees conferred.
4th-Year Respondents aDegrees Conferred 2021–2024 b
Government6%8%
Psychology10%8%
Biology7%8%
Kinesiology & Health Sciences5%6%
Economics7%6%
History6%6%
Computer Science5%5%
Finance3%5%
International Relations6%4%
Neuroscience4%4%
English4%3%
Mathematics1%3%
Public Policy3%3%
Chemistry5%2%
Business Analytics3%2%
a Source: W&M Climate Survey. b Source: W&M Office of Institutional Research, Fall 2024 Undergraduate Enrollment Statistics.
Table 3. Exposure to climate-focused classes and content.
Table 3. Exposure to climate-focused classes and content.
Have Taken Climate-Focused ClassHave Discussed Climate Change in Class *Have Not Discussed Climate Change in Class
4th Year113236112
3rd Year104226124
2nd Year78205142
1st Year47171171
Total342838549
Source: W&M Climate Survey. Total number of respondents answering these questions = 1729. * But have not taken a climate-focused class.
Table 4. Percentage of respondents with major choice and career plans impacted by climate change *.
Table 4. Percentage of respondents with major choice and career plans impacted by climate change *.
Climate Change Has Impacted Major Choice
AgreeNeutralDisagree
Climate Change Has Impacted Career PlansAgree 12%3%2%
Neutral 2%11%2%
Disagree 1%3%64%
Source: W&M Climate Survey. * Includes respondents that answered both questions. A total of 2 respondents answered the question about career plans but not major choice, while 234 respondents answered other questions in the survey, but not these two.
Disclaimer/Publisher’s Note: The statements, opinions and data contained in all publications are solely those of the individual author(s) and contributor(s) and not of MDPI and/or the editor(s). MDPI and/or the editor(s) disclaim responsibility for any injury to people or property resulting from any ideas, methods, instructions or products referred to in the content.

Share and Cite

MDPI and ACS Style

Stafford, S.L. How Is Climate Change Impacting the Educational Choices and Career Plans of Undergraduates? Sustainability 2025, 17, 6324. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17146324

AMA Style

Stafford SL. How Is Climate Change Impacting the Educational Choices and Career Plans of Undergraduates? Sustainability. 2025; 17(14):6324. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17146324

Chicago/Turabian Style

Stafford, Sarah Lynne. 2025. "How Is Climate Change Impacting the Educational Choices and Career Plans of Undergraduates?" Sustainability 17, no. 14: 6324. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17146324

APA Style

Stafford, S. L. (2025). How Is Climate Change Impacting the Educational Choices and Career Plans of Undergraduates? Sustainability, 17(14), 6324. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17146324

Note that from the first issue of 2016, this journal uses article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.

Article Metrics

Back to TopTop