Salaries Higher Many sources support the notion that college graduates earn more money in both the long and short term. The Los Angeles Times reported in 2011 that the average take-home pay of college graduates is $38,950, compared to $21,500 for high school graduates. Those figures were taken from research by analyst Sarah Millar of the ConvergEx Group. The 2011 Brookings Institution study indicates that a 50-year-old college graduate in 2010 earned, on average, $46,500 per year more than someone with a high school diploma. The Brookings study also reported that a 22-year-old college student can expect to earn 70 percent more upon graduation than a peer of identical age with no postsecondary education. Estimates in several studies of how much more college graduates will earn over their lifetime range from $280,000 to $800,000. That gap may 8
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widen even further—the average salary for 2011 graduates rose 2.3 percent from 2010 to 2011, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE).
Unemployment Lower Choosing a major is important, because some degree fields offer more optimism for potential employment than others. The NACE survey, reported in The New Yorker, said 46 percent of accounting majors and 40 percent of business majors had already been offered jobs upon graduating. The same study found that business students earned an average starting salary of $48,144. Nursing majors and others in health sciences averaged $44,955. The ConvergEx Group report indicated the unemployment rate for those with college degrees was 4.4 percent, compared with 9.6 percent for high school graduates and 13.8 percent for those who never finished high school.
Time Magazine reported that, in 2010, 90 percent of college graduates from 2008-10 were employed, compared to 64 percent of those who had not attended college. Time also reported in April of 2012 that 62 percent of U.S. jobs require a degree beyond high school, a figure expected to increase to 75 percent by 2020.
Customers Satisfied The Pew Research Center surveyed 334 adult college graduates for a report released in May of 2011. Eighty-six percent of those graduates said college had been a good investment for them. Adult college graduates surveyed said they believe they earn about $20,000 per year more because of their degree; those without degrees answering the same survey figure they earn about $20,000 less. That total matches up well with the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2010 estimated gap: $19,550. Four-year college graduates among the 2,142 adults who responded