<p>I don't know if this is Parents Forum material but here goes:</p>
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<p>Read the rest of the article which contains seven reasons why college students can't find a high paying job by visiting the following link:</p>
<p>I think it is a great topic for us parents.</p>
<p>What is a high paying job? How much money?</p>
<p>Do you mean a summer job, or one that lasts all year?</p>
<p>I'm probably old-fashioned, but as the average family income in the US is $55K, a high paying job for a 21 year old would be $30K. $50K would be insane--$80K+? Ridiculous.</p>
<p>It's insane when you're middle aged have enough sense and life experience to know that very few people get a high paying when they're just starting out in the business world, but you can't tell that to an 18 year old. Just look at some of the posts from high schoolers on CC. Some of these kids expect to have a six figure paying Investment Banking or consulting job with a corner office, within months of receiving their bachelor's degree, which just doesn't happen in the real world.</p>
<p>I don't think it is insane. I know recent graduates with BA degrees making close to 50 K and others more. That is why I asked you for more details in my post 2</p>
<p>My first job? $11K a year. I think $30K is a fantastic starting salary.</p>
<p>It sure is true that too many of these kids expect to be hot shot consultants, right out of the box. I see that with recent grads all the time. They want to do NO scut work, no grunt work, no "assisting". I've seen many quit first jobs that they felt were "beneath" them. They want to go right to the interesting stuff without working their way up.</p>
<p>Allmusic - I know one recent grad making 110k with a 20k sign on bonus, he received months before starting the job. But it is unclear if the question is about a student still in college or a new grad. What is the OP wondering about?</p>
<p>The topic is actually pretty relevant since many, many posts imply that the school has some correlation to the post school job and salary. Ironically three of us were discussing this today at the office...one was a company recruiter. $30,000 is probably a pretty accurate mean for a college grad with a BA or BS or something similar maybe with an internship or two and some sort of actual work history even if it's the golden arches who is looking for a job somewhere West of the NY - Boston corridor and East of the California. It would be real interesting to hear the kids perceptions. My son has been working 40-50 hours per week this summer for around $10 per hour. I'm going to ask him tonight (if I'm not asleep when he gets out of work) what he thinks he might make annually in 4 years. It would be also interesting to check up on the equivalent value of what "we" made when "we graduated" vs. today. I graduated in 1978 with a BA from a Loren Pope LAC. It took me about 2 1/2 months and over 80 resumes and maybe 12-15 interviews to land my first job and I targeted Chicago and Minneapolis I had an internship in my future job under my belt and a capstone project related to my future job and my starting salary was $7500 -- a number that my father prompty told me was "less than what his secretary made" when I called home all excited. I've never forgotten that journey. My goal at the time was to "make my age" by the time I turned 30 - I did and then some. $80K plus, I don't think I'd want to see any of my children live to work...I'd much prefer they work to live as some wise person said before me.</p>
<p>Momofthreeboys - Yes, the students I reference above are graduates of top schools. They also made much more than 10$/hr for summer jobs.
Perhaps it is the area of the country, too, but some college grads are highly desirable.</p>
<p>I know kids who will make $80k--but that's not the message I give my boys. Earning big money at age 20 is not the priority in my opinion.</p>
<p>Heck, if they don't have loans, no 20 year old needs that money. There's a lot of joy in living minimally for a few years at least. I had a ton of fun living in Manhattan on next to nothing.</p>
<p>That's my message to my boys.</p>
<p>I was a bit horrified at the starting salaries of the Computer Science grads at Carnegie Mellon. There's a good chance Mathson's starting salary could be more than his PhD Dad's! :eek: It doesn't really seem right to me. I started out making $6 an hour in 1982. And that was after grad school.</p>
<p>A colleague's son (Harvard '04) graduated w/ offer in hand from a hedge fund - - starting salary $80K + signing bonus. The son now earns more than the father - - good thing too, since son recently became engaged to girl in med sch (w/ signif debt).</p>
<p>Mathmom - My sentiments exactly. After an outsourcing, when my hi tech graduate degreed husband in his 50's with 30 years of experience was finally able to find a new job, he is making half of what my recent grad has been offered, and what husband made previously.</p>
<p>I asked my H what an entry level engineer could expect to make at his company and he said about 50K.</p>
<p>doubleplay - my son with an ME degree from an elite school has been offered 70K, but he is going to grad school.</p>
<p>merrymom,
It may depend on the location. I'm not sure that wages are as high in this part of Florida as in other parts, but neither is COL.</p>
<p>You are right Double- it is in California and that extra 20k won't pay for a house, anyway. What is COL?</p>
<p>COL is Cost of Living.
I was just watching a show where a couple was buying a 3 bdrm/2 bath home in Cali for something like 1.3 million. I was astonished- how do people do it?</p>
<p>Lots of ways. Subprime mortgages, which is a big problem as interests rates rise. Owner kickbacks.
Believe they will flip in a year and prices will be higher. They are in some areas, but California is crashing at the moment, I am reading, as well as Florida. Not the time to buy there. </p>
<p>Also, believe very little about what you read or hear related to real estate. Realtors usually say it is a great time to buy, no matter what the market conditions, in my experience.</p>
<p>Can't recall exact figures, but the Career Center at my school reported that Lib. Arts & Sciences grads had an avg in the mid-$30's and the Business students avg was @$40K or thereabouts(that can vary alot by major).
So those numbers don't seem too shabby.</p>