Colleges Where Alumni Make Less Than High School Graduates?

Predominantly small liberal arts colleges whose graduates, in large numbers, pursue public sector work in which the financial awards are small but the societal impact can be large.

Having looked at a lot of the liberal arts colleges with our 2016, we found most of their graduates to move on to additional schooling, not immediate employment.  Very different than the national university I went to.

The largest percentage at many of these schools were pursuing medical or related (e.g., psychology) advanced degrees and therefore taking another 4-6 years (or more) of schooling.  There's also a large percentage that pursues law degrees, though I would presume that's 3 years of additional schooling in most cases.

We also found some of the liberal arts colleges to be weak in career placement.  Career planning and placement services became something that we looked for and compared as we visited these schools.

And specifically regarding Grinnell and $$$, one answer is Intel.  Robert Noyce is an alum (and Intel co-founder).  And they bought into Berkshire Hathaway pretty early on too. 

I thought the same thing....liberal arts colleges where graduates either go into public sector work, teaching, writing or some major in art, theatre or music. UC Santa Cruz is not nearly as competitive to get into as some of the other UC's but my nephew went there and now has an excellent, well paying job. Not everyone measures success by $$$ - although if they want their sons to play travel baseball they better find a way to make some money

While a most parents and their kids expect the next step after college to be starting a career, some students, especially at LAC's, don't necessarily see it that way.  Over the holidays I met a few recent Lewis & Clark grads. Definitely one of the more crunchy schools on that list.  All of the grads were working as baristas, au pairs, servers, etc. while they figured out where they were going to travel next and what they were going to do with the rest of their lives.  Good, smart kids, but not focused on making a lot of money quite yet.

Like many statistical conclusions, the devil is in the details. 

The time frame measured is six years after ENTERING the college. Thus, a student who took six years to complete an undergraduate degree AND who has either entered or is looking to enter the work force is included.  Conversely, students who are in graduate school (and presumably adding to their skill level which in some way translates into a higher salary) ARE NOT included. Eliminating from analysis the highest future wage earners, creates a sloppy, tilted playing field.

The first few years after graduating are generally spent rapidly building skills that are actually useful in the work place. As skills are built, promotions and raises follow.  Comparing a HS graduate SIX years after graduating with a college grad TWO years after graduating seems designed gloss over that inconvenient fact. (In other words, the HS grad has accumulated six years work experience while the college grad has two year accumulated experience [assuming the student actually completed a four year degree in four years].)

(Going through a California state university in four years is quite a feat - due to "impacted majors" many Califorina students can't finish their degree in four years.)

The survey would have been more valuable if it compared the wages of each category six years after finishing schooling; then noting the additional  investment of funds needed to get the degree, thereby leaving the reader with an understanding of how much (if anything) ROI the degree represents.

A working life is a marathon, not a sprint, so metrics which focus on the very beginning of the working life are, IMO, all but useless.

Totally agree Goosegg.  The premise and the methodology are flawed.  The devil is always in the details.

Quite a few of these colleges have biology as a popular degree. Many go to these college and get biology degree then matriculate on to grad school. One of the stats OWU gives as part of admissions spiel, is 90% of stidents that go on to grad school get in their first choice grad school. 

Berea college is on this list. They provide all students with full tuition scholarships. They have considered d3 on at least one occasion, but it is hard to find a conference when offering full tuition. There are not many conferences that want to compete with that.

https://www.berea.edu/about/

Isn't "liberal arts" Latin for I have to go to grad school?

I ran across another article on WSJ that's in a similar line of "materialistic" view of college education: "Do elite colleges really lead to higher salaries?" (http://www.marketwatch.com/sto...ryandpfnotradingdeck)

In this article, the main points are:

"Diplomas from prestigious schools boost future earnings only in certain fields, while in other fields they simply don’t make a difference."

"For STEM-related majors, average earnings don’t vary much among the college categories."

"Outside of STEM, it matters tremendously where a student receives a degree."

True? False?

Keep in mind that a kid may major in something that wasn't even on their radar when selecting a school. In other words  a prospective STEM major may become an economic major.  

So, anecdotally.

I have a daughter who is a Chem. E. major with a finance minor. Initially she was only going to be a Chem. E. (She attends a school that would probably be considered in the prestigious category - unlike her mom and dad who went to State U.)  She will never practice as an engineer (much to my regret).

She wants to work at the junction of money and science (sort of the translator to the people who don't understand if the start-up pitching the latest bio-tech idea is potentially a viable investment). As an intern this summer (between junior and senior year), she will earn well over (on an annualized basis) her COA. I know that the school's network was instrumental in the selection process. First year employees at this firm (and its peers) are primarily from those schools and their starting salaries scrape six figures, with multi-year training which makes them very desirable after they burn out and move on.

On the other hand, if she wanted to head to med school, it would be an easier path to have attended a state school.

Only by looking backwards is it truly possible to determine which path would be better because there are so many variables. I'd advise to take a path which burns the fewest options.

bogeyorpar,

"Do elite colleges really lead to higher salaries?".....of course they can but it depends on the person and their opportunities.   The elite colleges have some of the best world class professors, infrastructure, opportunities, history of success,  and an alumni network the other schools don't have....this is what they do....this is their business and why people want to go to these schools.  For me, this is like the WSJ writing an article that says....."Do the power baseball conferences (SEC, ACC, PAC12, Big 12, Big 10) really lead to professional baseball?".....of course they can because they have the best coaches, history of success, best athletes, and the infrastructure to support it.   People want to play baseball for these programs because their success chances are increased at getting to the next level.

Goosegg is spot on as always.  It is about future options, future opportunities and what you do with it.   Some of these young men and women have found a field they are passionate about and go onto advanced degrees where the doors really open up.  This is what is important to them and they want to be the best at it, and in some cases the money is secondary.  

They have so many options and opportunities that many others will not get and it has everything to do with their major and where they got their undergrad and graduate degrees.  I see this with two recently graduated engineering majors that I know very well as well as a third engineer who will have a summer internship that will earn well over his annualized COA for a second straight year just like Goosegg's example.   These people have found industries that want them, need them, and are willing to pay top dollar and provide for advanced degrees at no cost to the employee.

As always, JMO.