Class of 2013 College Grad Forecast Trends Engender Optimism
By Alicia Jacobs, Excelsior Life News Staff—
College students often find landing a job after graduation just as difficult as working towards a degree. However, there is reason for optimism for the Class of 2013. According to a study conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers' (NACE) (Job Outlook 2013), surveyed employers expect to hire 13 percent more new college this year than they did in 2012.
Of the popular college degrees, business administration was listed among CareerBuilder's 2012 most in-demand. This holds true for Excelsior College students with over 85 percent of students pursuing an associate’s degree in business at Excelsior enrolled in the administrative/management studies degree program. More than1,500 students are enrolled in Excelsior College’s baccalaureate business degree program, with 508 of those students in the Bachelor of Professional Studies in Business & Management degree. Excelsior College's Master of Business Administration (MBA) is 585 students strong.
Excelsior College also finds within degrees, there is also popularity among certain concentrations.
“Based on our current data and industry trends, the MBA with concentrations in technology management, leadership, and human resource management are very popular," said Andrew Wheeler, assistant dean of the School of Business and Technology at Excelsior. “We have seen enrollments in these concentrations grow rapidly. The MBA Leadership concentration grew by 70 percent from January 2012 to January 2013. The MBA technology management concentration grew by almost 40 percent in the same time period, and the MBA human resource management concentration grew by 92 percent since February 2012.”
Of course, many enrolling and current students want to know what a college degree equates to in terms of an expected future salary.
However, students must keep in mind the hiring needs in a particular field when reviewing potential salaries, says Maribeth Gunner, career services coordinator at Excelsior. Business administration majors earn from $42,800 to $65,700 with a median salary of $55,200 with a baccalaureate degree. Associate degree graduates generally will not have the same earning power of the baccalaureate degrees. As a rule of thumb, starting salaries for MBA graduates begin on average where the baccalaureate graduates topped off: $69,200.
Computer, electrical, mechanical, civil, chemical and aerospace engineering majors dominate the list of college degrees paying the highest salaries according to the NACE’s new salary survey. Excelsior offers electrical engineering technology degrees as well as nuclear engineering technology. There are approximately 1,250 students enrolled in the Bachelor of Science in nuclear engineering technology – one of only three accredited by the Engineering Technology Accreditation Commission of ABET.
In addition, when looking at salaries and future hiring, industry research reveals that there is going to be a major void in nuclear leadership.
“Thirty-nine percent of the nuclear workforce will be eligible for retirement by 2016,” said Dr. Jane LeClair, dean of Excelsior College’s School of Business and Technology. “The looming workforce shortage has many nuclear and energy industry employees scrambling for a degree so they begin to fill all levels of plant staffing - especially leadership.”
While these indicators are certainly cause for optimism among the 1,000 expected School of Business and Technology graduates this fiscal year, they will only make up twenty percent of Excelsior’s expected 5,000 strong Class of 2013. However, the growth of the health care industry, increased demand for graduates with advanced critical thinking skills, and an improving economy indicates the four thousand graduating students from Excelsior’s other three schools, Nursing, Health Sciences, and Liberal Arts, can also look towards a bright future.
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