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Major · Business, Management, Marketing & Related

A catch-all credential for business programs that don't fit a named slot

Business Administration, Management and Operations, Other (CIP 52.0299) is a residual classification — it covers accredited business-administration programs that IPEDS couldn't map to a more specific code. About 6,667 degrees are awarded per year across 227 colleges, primarily at online and career-focused institutions. Earnings track closely to the named Business Administration major, with five-year medians around $60,233.

Schools offering
227
Annual completions
6,667
Typical degree level
Associate's + Bachelor's
Median earnings (5yr)
$60k

About this major

Business Administration, Management and Operations, Other (CIP 52.0299) is a residual classification in the federal CIP taxonomy — it captures accredited business administration programs that IPEDS cannot map to any of the more specific codes in the 52.02xx family. The CIP definition is direct about this: "any instructional program in business and administration not listed above." That framing means the actual curriculum at any school labeled 52.0299 can vary considerably. One institution might offer a hybrid management and entrepreneurship program; another might offer a specialized organizational track that doesn't cleanly fit the named options. Students can't assume curricular uniformity the way they can with a standard Business Administration degree.

About 6,667 degrees are awarded in this classification each year across 227 colleges. The institutional profile skews heavily toward online and career-focused schools: the highest completions come from DeVry University-Illinois, Ashford University, Miami Dade College, Eastern Florida State College, and Purdue University Global — institutions where flexible delivery and occupational focus shape the program more than the CIP code does. The concentration cross-references in the CIP system point notably to Health/Health Care Administration (51.0701) and Hospital and Health Care Facilities Administration (51.0702), which suggests some programs in this slot have a sector-specific management focus rather than a fully general business orientation.

Five-year median earnings for graduates of this classification sit at about $60,233 across degree levels — nearly identical to Business Administration, General. Bachelor's completers reach approximately $65,686, while associate's completers are closer to $48,463. Those earnings comparisons tell you this is squarely a business administration credential, not a specialty track with distinctive outcomes. The career pipeline from 52.0299 is not formally mapped in federal occupational data, so outcome expectations should come from the specific school's placement data rather than field-wide averages.

Section 3 · Careers

Where this major leads

Occupations most often associated with this major, from the federal BLS+O*NET crosswalk. Job-growth projections and median wages are national.

No federal crosswalk data available for this major yet.

Section 4 · Earnings

Earnings at a glance

Median graduate earnings from the federal College Scorecard, 5 and 10 years out.

Median 5-year earnings

$60k

Associate's vs Bachelor's — early-career earnings

Associate's

$48k

Bachelor's

$66k

Who this major is for

You may thrive here if you're enrolled at an institution that offers this specific program classification — an online or career-focused school where the curriculum is structured around practical business operations and you can't easily transfer to a school offering the named Business Administration, General major. This classification also fits students who want a business administration foundation with a sector-specific angle (some programs in this slot lean toward healthcare management, given the CIP cross-references to 51.0701 and 51.0702) and who have confirmed that the institutional accreditation and career support will get them where they want to go. For associate's students planning to transfer to a four-year business program, this classification functions as a transfer platform in the same way as the named Business Administration major — the earnings jump from the associate's ($48,463 five-year median) to the bachelor's ($65,686) is roughly $17,000 annually, which makes completing that transfer a financially meaningful step.

Think twice if you have the option to enroll in a named major instead — Business Administration and Management, General (193,432 completions at 2,282 colleges) is the most legible credential in this family and the one most employers and graduate programs will recognize without a second look. Think twice also if the institutional context is a for-profit online school without a strong regional alumni network or employer relationships in your target field: the "Other" CIP label will likely matter less than where your degree was awarded. And think twice if no occupational pipeline being formally tracked to this classification concerns you — related majors like Organizational Leadership (4,923 completions) or Operations Management and Supervision (2,998 completions) connect to more specific career paths if directional clarity matters to your decision.

Section 6 · Where to study

Top colleges for Business Administration, Management and Operations, Other

Ranked by annual completions at the associate's or bachelor's level — a proxy for program scale.

College Location Assoc. Bach. Total
DeVry University-Illinois Lisle, IL 0 735 735
Ashford University San Diego, CA 0 451 451
Miami Dade College Miami, FL 0 414 414
Eastern Florida State College Melbourne, FL 0 366 366
Purdue University Global West Lafayette, IN 341 0 341
Palm Beach State College Lake Worth, FL 0 230 230
Broward College Fort Lauderdale, FL 0 198 198
Polk State College Winter Haven, FL 0 192 192
Daytona State College Daytona Beach, FL 0 167 167
St Petersburg College St. Petersburg, FL 0 149 149
Section 7 · Explore sideways

Related majors to explore

Business Administration and Management, General

193,432 completions/yr

Logistics, Materials, and Supply Chain Management

6,935 completions/yr

Organizational Leadership

4,923 completions/yr

Business, Management, Marketing, and Related Support Services, Other

3,164 completions/yr

Operations Management and Supervision

2,998 completions/yr

Office Management and Supervision

1,304 completions/yr

Project Management

1,001 completions/yr

Computer/Information Technology Services Administration and Management, Other

969 completions/yr

Considering this direction?

We've taken a hard look at the debt, earnings trajectory, and degree-level tradeoffs for the Business Administration, Management and Operations, Other field. Read our verdict before you commit.

Is Business Administration, Management and Operations, Other worth it? Read verdict
Section 9 · Frequently asked

Common questions

What makes this major different from Business Administration and Management, General?
The difference is largely administrative, not academic. Business Administration and Management, General (CIP 52.0201) is the named, standardized classification covering the mainstream management curriculum. Business Administration, Management and Operations, Other (CIP 52.0299) is the residual bucket — it captures accredited programs at institutions that IPEDS classifies as not fitting neatly into any of the named 52.02xx codes. The curriculum at any given school may look similar to a standard business administration program; the "Other" label signals an institutional classification edge case, not a fundamentally different course of study. The parent major enrolls about 193,432 students per year; this classification accounts for about 6,667.
What kinds of schools offer this classification?
The institutions with the highest completions in this classification are predominantly online, for-profit, or career-focused: DeVry University-Illinois (735 completions), Ashford University/University of Arizona Global Campus (451), Purdue University Global (341), and Miami Dade College (414). This pattern matters because the institutional context — not just the major title — affects how employers perceive the credential, how robust the alumni network is, and what career services resources are available. Prospective students should evaluate the specific school's outcomes and accreditation, not just the CIP label.
What jobs do graduates of this major end up in?
No specific career paths are mapped to CIP 52.0299 in the federal occupational data. That gap is itself informative: the "Other" classification doesn't correspond to a tracked occupational pipeline. Graduates likely enter the same general management and business operations roles that Business Administration, General graduates target — general and operations managers, business analysts, and project coordinators — but the connection between the degree and those outcomes is institution-dependent and not captured in aggregate federal data. The related major Organizational Leadership (4,923 completions) and Operations Management (2,998 completions) each have clearer occupational pipelines if a specific direction is your goal.
Does the degree level matter — associate's versus bachelor's?
Yes, and the gap is similar to the rest of the business administration family. Bachelor's completers in this field report median five-year earnings of about $65,686, compared to roughly $48,463 for associate's completers — a difference of approximately $17,000 per year. Most higher-level management roles that represent the career ceiling for business graduates require a bachelor's credential. An associate's in this classification can function as a stepping stone to a transfer-ready four-year program, but the earnings ceiling for associate's completers is noticeably lower and the credential carries less weight for management-track hiring.
Is this the right major, or should I pursue a more specifically named program?
If you have any choice in the matter, a named major in the 52.02xx family will almost always be the clearer option. Business Administration and Management, General (193,432 completions at 2,282 colleges) is the most common path and the most legible credential to employers. If your interest is narrower — supply chain (Logistics and Supply Chain Management, 6,935 completions), project work (Project Management, 1,001 completions), or workplace operations (Operations Management, 2,998 completions) — those named programs carry more signal. Business Administration, Management and Operations, Other typically appears as the classification when an institution's program doesn't map cleanly to a named code, not as a strategic student choice.