Seriously? Average starting salary for college grads?

[leftygolfer]

I can't be reading this right. I've been working 27 years, on a good year I make half of this! I guess it's just a case of if you're rich enough to go to college, you just start out way ahead of everyone else.

http://money.cnn.com/2011/02/10/pf/college_graduates_salaries/index.htm

[Drale]

1. That is the point of going to college so

that you make more then people who didn't go to college. That has always been the point and always will be, and for the kind of work that it takes to graduate from college, depending on your career choice of course, you should make more money.

[Vincardog]

2. I don't give this report much credence I think MOST new college grads are not able to find jobs at

at all. What do you thing the average salary of ALL new grads is?

[hack89]

13. Depends on the field, depends on the major

a whole generation engineers and scientist are retiring - very good fields to be in.

[Vincardog]

18. And their jobs are being shipped to China Nepal and India. Follow the corporate PROFITS

[hack89]

19. Not around here

we are hiring like crazy.

[Vincardog]

20. Please post a link

[hack89]

25. What - to my company?

perhaps I don't want to give away private information like that. What's the big deal - you really don't think that there are some regions and some industries that are doing well? With 90 percent employment it is not all gloom and doom.

[Vincardog]

26. If you believe we have 90 percent employment in this country I do not trust ANY of your opinions

I believe that when you count the under and long term unemployed the REL unemployment rate is closer to 16-20%.
That says NOTHING about the stagnant wages and inequality of our economic system.

[hack89]

28. I take it times have been tough for you?

perhaps your perspective has been warped by your personal circumstances? All I know is that my company is hiring and has plenty of work.

[lumberjack_jeff]

29. 90% employment?

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/01/been-down-so-long/



The employment to population ratio is down 12% since 2000. If there were jobs to be had, employment would be 20% higher.

[hack89]

30. You are not paying attention

the recession did not impact every sector of the economy and every region the same way. Construction and manufacturing jobs were clobbered - I get it. It doesn't mean that it is uniformly bad every place.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

14. Correct.

[iemitsu]

3. well, i went to college, have several degrees

and barely make more than that after 20 years in my profession.
i remember when i thought that i would be rich if i made $20,000 in a year. i wasn't when i did.

[notadmblnd]

16. I remember that. I actually told my boss in 1980 that I would be happy when I made 20k

I peaked in 2001 with 60k. Last year, I earned 7k. Sad, aint it?

[iemitsu]

24. yes, it is sad.

i assume i will be taking that sort of hit soon too.

[Godhumor]

4. Depending on the work and geographic location, that sounds reasonable as an average

Supply and demand all over again.

[Bill McBlueState]

5. what they don't mention is grads likely have twice that in loans. n/t

[abelenkpe]

15. +1 Exactly

And they'll be paying those off for twenty years (mostly interest) unable to purchase a home.

[Ilsa]

6. I understand your frustration, and I suspect your experience

isn't counting enough in the minds of your employer and supervisor.

These are decent starting salaries. I didn't know anyone was hiring business graduates outside of accounting.

[DBoon]

7. a BIG piece of that salary goes towards student loans

Debt for a degree maybe equals what a mortgage would have been 27 years ago

Also the high salaries quoted are for engineering degrees which are very tough - you have to have a lot of mathematical aptitude and really work hard for a degree in that field

[tammywammy]

8. I currently make $35k/year

When I get my bachelor's degree next year, I will receive a significant bump in pay (at least $5k). I'm going straight into a Masters program, and that will mean my salary should be at minimum $50k in about 3 years. That's strictly based on the pay scales for the jobs I will be moving into at my current employer, and $50k with a Masters is the bottom of the pay scale.


Edited to add: I'm not rich. I'll have taken out $36k in loans for my bachelors and my company will pay for the Masters.

[CreekDog]

9. most people who go to college aren't rich

i sure wasn't.

[frazzled]

10. Note the main part of the article is about business and engineering grads

The average liberal arts grad earns an average of $35,633. And remember that averages are very deceiving. If 100 Harvard liberal arts grads go to Goldman Sachs and earn $150K, you can imagine that the "average" $35K means that a lot of college grads are earning practically zilch.

[FLPanhandle]

11. I was in college 27 years ago and I wasn't rich

No money from mom/dad, I worked a full time job as a bartender, a part time job at the University Museum, and had a few small student loans.

Back then it was possible, if you were willing to bust your ass, to work your own way through college. It wasn't easy though. In the long run it paid off (nicely).

[wickerwoman]

12. Someone needs to run the math again:

"While the association's survey didn't break out starting salaries for individual liberal arts majors, offers were up a whopping 9.5% to $35,633 for the group as a whole. That compares to a steep drop of 11% last year."

Doesn't that means it's still down 1.5% from two years ago?

And being $80,000 in debt doesn't start you way out ahead of anyone, assuming you can find a job in the first place.

[abelenkpe]

17. Longer it takes to find a job

The further behind they get on repaying the loans too. I have friends who are in so far over their head they will never buy a home and will wait a long time before starting a family. 50,000? Not much if one lives in a mojor city either.

[JI7]

21. it is about Engineering , Accounting and Finance Graduates , not all grads

[xchrom]

22. i'm sure there are a good number of grads to whom that would be news.

it all depends on what your degree is.

and isn't that the point? -- besides they'll have a heavy burden of debt -- or some of them will.

[HopeHoops]

23. "Do you want fries with that order?"

[lumberjack_jeff]

27. And this just in: association of colleges reports that a degree will cure halitosis

News at 11.

It's reasonable to question the motives behind the study, and therefore the methodology. I.E. how many graduates make zero?