As student debt mounts, colleges and universities face pressure to disclose their graduates’ earnings.
Washington, Florida Arkansas, Tennessee and Virginia have released wage information by major, degree and institutution. Colorado, Nevada and Texas will do so soon. A bill in Congress would publicize graduates’ wage data for every college and university.
Community colleges and employers are working to develop apprenticeship programs.
About Joanne
I’m not sure the data will be any good–will all the data be self-reported? What about the “non-response”, students who don’t provide their salaries?
And shouldn’t universities be more about education and not job-training factories?
If the schools *really* wanted this info, they could offer the graduates $1K for a copy of their W2 one year out …
“And shouldn’t universities be more about education and not job-training factories?”
Well, yes. But with lots of universities charging ~$50K/year for undergraduate education, knowing if you can expect to get the money back or if the education is just a very expensive luxury good might be important.
Mark Roulo replied:
Well, yes. But with lots of universities charging ~$50K/year for undergraduate education, knowing if you can expect to get the money back or if the education is just a very expensive luxury good might be important.
This I agree with. Had I known today (20+ years out of college) that I wouldn’t be working in the Liberal Arts filed I studied I would have taken a different and potentially more lucrative major more seriously. I went to a SUNY school and took on some loans in addition to financial aid, fortunately no where near $50k/year. School couldn’t have cared less what I studied or went on to do (or not do.) They just wanted the $$$. Hopefully I can impart to my children the wisdom of choosing a rewarding and fulfilling career. Wisdom I wish someone had shared with me way back when.
Heaven forbid that they pursue a decent standard of living before going up Maslow’s hierarchy. They might shove a bunch of humanities professors down a notch, and what of the administrators?
That’s all well and good, as long as “learning what you need to learn” isn’t how to pay your student loans with your income from working as a barista since you have neither the money nor time to acquire a credential that would help you make a decent living.
My son said he thought his primary job in college was to learn how to get along with various kinds of people. Took a biz major. Did various things; fraternity, bar bouncer, sorority busboy, roofing in the summers country club staff. I’m sure some of what he learned in class has been some use. I’m sure of it. Absolutely.
I had a psych major which wasn’t much use in the Infantry, but they did want the degree for OCS, so that worked out.
As to becoming an educated person in the older sense, that takes time, experience, and endless study–aka reading and searching out opportunities to see things for yourself. Not many twenty-three year olds, mortarboard notwithstanding, qualify no matter what they think of themselves, which is usually quite a lot.