EDITORIAL: Deciding degree worth
Learning that University of South Dakota graduates earn the least in median starting salary among all 50 state “flagship” schools in the country is disheartening — but this info is only as significant as a student chooses to perceive it.
It is true that online college advisory sites like PayScale.com and CollegeMeasures.com can be used at a person’s discretion to roughly estimate their financial success in a chosen career path. But it is also true that the worth of a student’s degree is ultimately dependent on how they choose to use it.
Is it really a surprise that graduates from the University of California-Berkeley, on average, make more money right out of college than USD grads? Not really. Berkeley has a 21.6 percent acceptance rate compared to USD’s 88.9 percent. It is selective, it is competitive and it has an ample amount of name recognition that USD just does not possess. But this does not signify that USD students are immune to success.
On the contrary, the worth of your degree, professionally and/or financially, is what you make it. The experiences students have, in and out of the classroom, can be as impactful and influential on a person’s career path as the name of their alma mater.
USD’s ranking in the MoneyWatch article is not a reason to throw in the towel. It should be the kick in the pants every student requires to fully understand and take advantage of all the opportunities available on our Vermillion campus. USD offers not only a number of excellent and supportive undergraduate and graduate degrees, but it also offers outside of the classroom activities that can transform college students into progressive adults who can walk into internships or interviews with job skills, confidence and a global perspective.
Ignoring every Forbes article written about some 17-year-old who makes a fortune by relying on their entrepreneurial drive to create the “next big thing” instead of pursuing a higher education, college still offers a path to financial success, according to a study by the non-partisan Pew Charitable Trusts. Though there was a drop in employment and income for all Americans age 21 to 24 during the recession, it was much worse for people who didn’t graduate from college, the study said.
For those with a high school diploma but no college degree, only 55 percent had jobs before the recession, which fell to 51 percent during the recession and 47 percent after the recession ended. Those with a bachelor’s degree balanced the most stable employment rate, with 69 percent before the recession, 67 percent during it and 65 percent after the recession.
A college degree is a college degree, no matter where you go. The worth of the degree though, is up to you, the student. So don’t let a report from CBS News hold you back. Capitalize on your time at USD, and you’ll find your own success.
