Is There Value in a College Education Nowadays?
Aside from prominent billionaires Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, there is currently an upswing of college undergraduates who are becoming wealthy and successful particularly in the technology field like Mark Zuckerberg, founder of the currently most popular social networking media Facebook. Despite this current trend, it is still the popular belief that college education is worth the investment of the parents as well as worth the precious time and effort of the students.
As the graduating college students are preparing to enter the fast lane of corporate life, there are very positive signs and indicators in terms of job growth for these young graduates. This is according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), a publicly funded organization based in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Edwin Koc, NACE Director for Strategic and Foundation Research, noted that 53% of the employers they surveyed intend to hire more college graduates of the class 2011 than last year which is a considerable increase. Koc indicated that college graduates can ride the tide better than those without college degrees especially during this period of economic recession.
In terms of the average starting salaries, current graduates are offered 3.5% higher rates compared to the offers given the same period in 2010. According to the data of NACE, the salary offer increase was last reported in the year 2008. Present job hiring still posted high in both the business and engineering sectors. The manufacturing and healthcare industries are also showing strong employment gains. For accounting graduates, average starting salary offer in 2011 is $49,000 per year which is a 2.2% increase from previous year’s starting offer. Electrical engineering graduates, on the other hand, are offered initially close to $62,000 per annum which is 4.4% uptick from last year.
College job fairs around the United States are also reporting an upward trend in terms of attending employers as well as job-hunting students such as in University of Michigan and University of Virginia. However, the job market is still very tight and competitive according to Kendra Nelsen, Director of Student Services in the University of Virginia. Nelsen suggested that the young graduates should be flexible as well as proactive in looking and accepting job offers. Aside from concentrating on their dream employment, graduates should be open to other job opportunities using the same skills and expertise. Such job positions might not be in the student’s preferred industry but in other fields that are in the upswing currently as mentioned earlier. For instance, if the student’s preference is a marketing position in the product-based industry, the graduate might want to consider a similar marketing job offer in the technology and healthcare sectors should he or she fails to land into a dream job. In the long haul, the marketing experience to be gained from that alternative sector would still be valuable to the graduate’s career plans.
Is college education still worth it? From all indications, the answer is still a resounding YES! If the trends will continue, it would be a promising period for future college graduates.