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Study: Florida graduates fare well in employment, wages

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Florida graduates are highly likely to find jobs, with 92 percent of those in the Board of Governors’ latest study employed within one year of completing their bachelor’s degrees. One out of four graduates who worked also continued their education at the same time. Additionally, the overall median wage for recent graduates is up $2,800, from $36,300 to $39,100 between 2014 and 2015.
Those are just a few of the useful data points identified in the Board of Governors’ Annual Baccalaureate Follow-Up Study, which is designed to answer the following four research questions: 1) Do graduates get jobs? 2) Do graduates pursue further education? 3) Do graduates work while pursuing additional education? 4) What are the starting salaries of graduates?
“The Board of Governors’ top focus is student outcomes, and this study offers a comprehensive look at what our students’ experiences are one year out,” said Tom Kuntz, Board of Governors’ Chair. “Overall, the takeaway is very positive: Students are employed, furthering their educations, or doing both at the same time.”
The report identifies the most popular undergraduate majors in 2015 as well as the average starting salary for various fields. The two most common majors were Business and Marketing (19 percent) and the Health Professions (12 percent). When it comes to salaries, Engineering graduates fared best, at a median of $58,600. On the other end of the spectrum, graduates in the Biological Sciences — many of whom go on to graduate school — were likely to earn $29,500 the year after graduation.
Many graduates also chose to continue their educations, with 30 percent pursuing additional degrees. Of those students, 74 percent were enrolled and working at the same time. The fields with the highest number of graduates pursuing further education were Health Professions, Biological Sciences, Business and Marketing, Psychology, and Social Sciences.
The report’s data has various practical uses, including helping students choose majors that lead to the career outcomes they desire. And, later, helping students negotiate their first salaries. The data also notes a gap between the average starting wages of women and men and between minority and all students. In the hands of career centers, this data could help students negotiate more appropriate salaries and know their value in the marketplace.
“This study is one of the Board of Governors’ most important initiatives because it helps us know whether our universities are successful at preparing students for employment,” said State University System Chancellor Marshall Criser III. “The resounding answer is ‘yes.’ So the next question is, ‘what can we take away from this data to help us build on our success?’”

Facts about the State University System of Florida and the Board of Governors
The State University System of Florida is a constitutional body led by the 17-member Board of Governors. The system has 12 universities and more than 341,000 students, making it the second-largest public university system in the nation. Responsibilities include defining the distinctive mission of each institution and managing the system’s coordination and operation. The Board appoints a Chancellor who serves as the system’s chief executive. For more, visit flbog.edu, think-florida.org, or follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

Florida College System chancellor to address DSC’s graduates

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Madeline M. Pumariega, the chancellor of the Florida College System (FCS), will address a class of more than 3,200 graduates during Daytona State College’s 57th commencement ceremonies on Monday, May 15, at the Ocean Center.

Madeline M. Pumariega

This year’s commencement will take place in two parts, with ceremonies for associate of science (AS), certificate and adult education students at 2 p.m. and for associate of arts (AA) and baccalaureate degree students scheduled at 6:30 p.m. The event will include a job fair for DSC graduates, set for 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Pumariega presides over the 28 colleges that make up the FCS, which serves nearly 1 million students annually and is rated among the nation’s best. Appointed as the first female and Hispanic chancellor in August 2015, she is herself a product of the FCS, having earned her AA degree from Miami Dade College.
She is the past president of Miami Dade’s Wolfson Campus, where she earned acclaim for nurturing community partnerships and for her work in developing innovative approaches to ensure that thousands can access and complete college.
Pumariega is a member of the Florida Prepaid College Board, Higher Education Coordinating Council, Florida Council of 100, the Center for Postsecondary Success at Florida State University, City Year Miami and an advisory board member of the Florida College Access Network. She was a Kellogg Fellow for the League for Innovation’s Expanding Leadership Diversity in Community and a graduate of Leadership Florida Class 33. Chancellor Pumariega holds a bachelor’s in political science from St. Thomas University, a master of education from Florida Atlantic University and is a doctoral candidate at Barry University.
The Class of 2017 features over 1,400 AA graduates, including 177 expected to complete their AAs this summer. Many will continue their studies in a DSC baccalaureate degree program or smoothly transition as juniors to the University of Central Florida through DSC’s Direct Connect to UCF partnership, or other universities.
Nearly 1,400 students will have earned their AS or certificate credentials, including candidates for summer 2017 graduation.
DSC’s commencement exercises include 455 bachelor’s degree recipients, including those expected to complete their degree this summer. Among them are 282 graduates of Daytona State’s Bachelor of Applied Science in Supervision and Management degree, which the college began offering over a decade ago, and 74 graduates of the college’s Bachelor of Science in Nursing, which DSC launched in 2014.
This year, 1,370 students across programs are graduating with honors, including 429 with high honors, and 64 have been inducted into the international honor society Phi Theta Kappa, based on their leadership skills, scholarship and community service. An additional 24 graduates were inducted this year into Sigma Beta Delta, the highest international recognition a business student can receive at a college or university. Sixty-three Associate Degree Nursing graduates this year were inducted into the Alpha Delta Nu national honor society, and eight students were inducted into the Kappa Delta Pi international honor society for education graduates.
Forty-seven Falcons this spring were named to Who’s Who Among Students in American Junior Colleges, and 15 students were inducted into the Daytona State College Hall of Fame, the highest honor that faculty can bestow upon a student.
More than 200 veterans earned their academic credentials this year, including those who completed their programs at the end of fall semester.
Over 150 graduates are earning their AA, AS or program certificate days before they receive their high school diploma, through Daytona State’s popular dual enrollment program, which provides opportunity for high school students to earn college credits free of charge and get a head start on their college education.
And over 462 students will have earned their adult high school diploma or GED as part of the Class of 2017.
This commencement marks over 100,000 degrees and certificates awarded by the college since its founding in 1957 as Florida’s first comprehensive community college.