Paying for College: Using Employment Prospects to Drive Decisions
For college students who are approaching graduation,Paying for College: Using Employment Prospects to Drive Decisions Articles the employment picture may be looking slightly better than it has in the past couple of years, as the country slowly recovers from the Great Recession. This recovery doesn’t mean, however, that job prospects are rosy; it just means that new graduates are being less particular about the job offers they accept.
For college graduates who may be facing tens of thousands of dollars in debt from student loans, the employment numbers still aren’t as good as one might hope.
Employment Trends for College Graduates in 2010
According to results from the 2010 Student Survey conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), less than one-fourth (24.4 percent) of the class of 2010 had a job waiting for them immediately following graduation, although this number is up from 19.7 percent in 2009. In 2007, more than half of graduating college seniors had secured a post-graduation position.
Only 38 percent of college students who applied for jobs in 2010 received at least one job offer, compared with 40 percent in 2009 and 66 percent in 2007.
Nearly 60 percent of the class of 2010 who received a job offer accepted it, while just 45 percent of the class of 2009 who received an employment offer did the same.
NACE cites average starting salary as one principal reason that a substantial. 40 percent of the class of 2010 rejected job offers even in the current difficult job market. Among those students who accepted job offers, the median starting salary