Average Pay
Do you think a school should advertise the average pay it's graduate are earning?
Kevin,
Schools need to be careful when discussing average wages as it will set expectations for students about circumstances in the current job market that may not exist in the future when a new student graduates. In general, Ohio Administrative Code section 3332-1-12 requires that any advertisements that mention potential wages earned by graduates should reflect actual wages earned by graduates of the school as documented in the school's placement records.
John Ware
John,
As a new rep, I was advised to reach out to our career services team to ensure they had the info on avaerage wages available in the resource center. This would then ensure that the information was available for prospective students that ask to identify their career path and its average wage without my involvement.
I dont think that advertising the average pay is something that schools should avoid. The pay that a student will make upon graduation has a lot of determining factors. I think its the responsibility for the student to research the career of choice and the details (including average salaries) before enrolling in school. As admissions this is where we can advise on the front end.
There are an almost endless number of factors that affect the average salary of a graduate of a particular program. I think that advertising the average pay of graduates could potentially create unrealistic expectations.
I think that it creates more problems for both the students and the school to advertise the pay. While it is a motivating factor for prospective students, it's also something that can dramatically change over the 2-4 years some students take to complete the program.
Advertising the average pay of graduates could create unrealistic expectations. There are an almost endless number of factors that affect the average salary of a graduate of a particular program, such as economy, experience, supply, demand for that field, etc.
I agree that advertising average earnings of graduates is inconsistent with all of the regulations in our industry in place to protect potential students. There are too many factors that influence what graduates earn. I think a better approach would be to just encourage potential students to research starting salaries and average earnings for their interested field of study on their own. They can see for themselves, then, the comparisons by region, etc.
I completely agree, the best option is to send people to official employment number sites. Gove resources work best.
No I do not think this should be disclosed because all employers are different and I would not want my school to guarantee anything to a potential student.
We were given a link to O*NET which is a salary generator based on employment and education. We breifly discuss salary opportunities but for the most part I encourage people to do their own salary research. This allows them to get more engaged and excited about the possibilities. Hope this helps!
Maybe the career center department may have the correct "average pay" for graduates and what they are earning but I don't think it will be relevant when the current student who is still in the program graduates unless they ask for that information a few weeks prior to graduation as those rates may change.
I agree. I think the strongest selling point would be experiences from graduates, something that will reassure the prospective student that, while there are no guarantees in life, they are making a wise investment.
I agree that wages should not be disclosed. That many companies vary on what the are willing to pay a graduate with no experience compared to a graduate with experience or even someone in that role that's not degreed but has 10 plus years experience with the same company. This is a touchy area but one that we have no control over a companies employee budget. Just offer out the labor website for them to review their particular field.
I think adevertising average pay and companies that have hired recent graduates are great marketing tools to attract students to attend ITT, especially because we are a career school.
I think it is okay to advertise companies that have recently hired graduates from the school but not the pay. The amount of pay is affected by so many factors(area, cost of living, past experience, economy) that it is not fair to the student to give them hope that they will make a certain amount upon graduation and then when they enter their career they possibly could start out making a different amount than what they expected.
