What is the starting salaries for graduates?
When it comes to higher education, more may not always be better — at least in starting salaries for graduates. State employment data that track the earnings of recent graduates show those who earned a career-focused associate's degree or postsecondary certificate from a Florida community college are in many cases making more money than bachelor's degree recipients at state universities. To read more, click here.
Is College the Answer for Unemployment?
A college education is better than no college education and correlates with higher pay. But as a cure for unemployment or as a way to narrow the chasm between the rich and everyone else, "more college" is a too-easy answer. Over the past year, for example, the unemployment rate for college grads under age 25 has averaged 9.2 percent, up from 8.8 percent a year earlier and 5.8 percent in the first year of the recession that began in December 2007. That means recent grads have about the same level of unemployment as the general population. It also suggests that many employed recent grads may be doing work that doesn't require a college degree. Even more disturbing, there is no guarantee that unemployed or underemployed college grads will move into much better jobs as conditions improve. Early bouts of joblessness, or starting in a lower-level job with lower pay, can mean lower levels of career attainment and earnings over a lifetime. Graduates who have been out of work or underemployed in the downturn may also find themselves at a competitive disadvantage with freshly minted college graduates as the economy improves. To read more, click here.
Profile of Florida's Public Workforce Education Program Providers by Service Area.
School districts and colleges have local authority to decide what workforce education programs to provide in their service areas and how to organize delivery. As a result, workforce education programs vary throughout the state, as does the division of responsibilities between districts and colleges. This report profiles each college service area in Florida, detailing which entity (school district or college) provides workforce education programs and enrollment numbers for these programs during the 2008-2009 school year. To learn more, click here.
What Is the Price of College?
Total, Net, and Out-of-Pocket Prices in 2007-08. In 2007-08, 80% of all full-time undergraduates received some combination of grants, loans, work-study, or other type of aid. The average total price of attendance for full-time undergraduates (tuition plus living expenses) varied widely by the type of institution attended, ranging from $12,600 at public 2-year colleges to $18,900 at public 4-year institutions, $28,600 at for-profit institutions, and $35,500 at private nonprofit 4-year institutions. Students at for-profit institutions received federal grants and student loans at considerably higher rates than those at other types of institutions. Even with such high percentages of Pell Grant and Stafford loan recipients, low-income students at for-profit schools still face the highest average out-of-pocket net prices compared to all other postsecondary institutions. To learn more, click here.
Are College Degrees Worth Time and Money Spent?
The more than 2.4 million students who receive an undergraduate degree in the United States each year have college experiences that are individual and diverse, but the students are nearly unanimous in their opinion of the value of their degree. Polling conducted by The Winston Group on behalf of the American Council on Education (ACE) indicates that 89 percent of young alumni found their education worth the time and money spent. To learn more, click here.
