Sure, NYU graduates, you may have had former President Bill Clinton give your commencement address at Yankee Stadium yesterday, but today is another day, one where you get to read about your crappy job prospects! The NY Times reports, "The median starting salary for students graduating from four-year colleges in 2009 and 2010 was $27,000, down from $30,000 for those who entered the work force in 2006 to 2008, according to a study released on Wednesday [PDF] by the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University. That is a decline of 10 percent, even before taking inflation into account."
Then, Rutgers economist Carl Van Horn explains that low starting salary could doom you, "Their salary history follows them wherever they go. It’s like a parrot on your shoulder, traveling with you everywhere, constantly telling you ‘No, you can’t make that much money.’"
New and recent graduates are wondering if going to college is even worth it—a 2009 University of Pittsburg graduate who has been waiting tables, doing data entry, and working in a bookstore says, “I have friends with the same degree as me, from a worse school, but because of who they knew or when they happened to graduate, they’re in much better jobs. It’s more about luck than anything else." And think of the student loans—one stat is that 2010 graduates left school with an average of $24,000 in loans—and questions about whether college is worth it [PDF of Pew Center study].
Ohio University professor and Center for College Affordability and Productivity director Richard Vedder told Take Part, "I’m opposed to the idea that every student should be steered towards college. I’m in favor of the proposition that every student should have the education or training that would best fit their personal needs. In some cases that means something after high school, but not a formal university college training." On the other hand, Queens College political science professor Andrew Hacker points out that college degrees usually pave the way to better paying jobs and a middle class lifestyle.
So back to the NY Times article, "An analysis by The New York Times of Labor Department data about college graduates aged 25 to 34 found that the number of these workers employed in food service, restaurants and bars had risen 17 percent in 2009 from 2008, though the sample size was small. There were similar or bigger employment increases at gas stations and fuel dealers, food and alcohol stores, and taxi and limousine services. This may be a waste of a college degree, but it also displaces the less-educated workers who would normally take these jobs."
