Skip to main content
  • About Us
  • Careers
  • Contact

Search form

American Institutes for Research

  • Our Work
    • Education
    • Health
    • International
    • Workforce
    • ALL TOPICS >
  • Our Services
    • Research and Evaluation
    • Technical Assistance
  • Our Experts
  • News & Events

You are here

  • Home
15 Oct 2012
Report

The Earning Power of Recent Graduates From Virginia’s Colleges and Universities

How are graduates from different degree programs doing in the labor market?

Mark S. Schneider, AIR and College Measures
Tod R. Massa, State Council of Higher Education for Virginia
Ben Vivari, College Measures

This report, the result of a partnership between the State Council on Higher Education in Virginia and College Measures, draws upon data previously not publicly available to compare the average first-year earnings of recent graduates from two-year and four-year institutions across Virginia.

The authors explore the variation in first-year earnings for graduates from individual degree programs at individual colleges. The results show that the degrees students earn, and where they earn them, matter. Among the findings in this report:

  • Substantial variation exists in the early-career earnings of students from different programs and different degree levels across the Commonwealth. Graduates of occupational/technical associate’s degree programs, with an average salary of just under $40,000, out-earned not just non-occupational associate’s degree graduates (by about $6,000) but even bachelor’s degree graduates by almost $2,500 statewide.
  • At the bachelor’s degree level, the highest earning graduates came from two career-oriented programs at the University of Richmond, where graduates in information sciences and in human resources management averaged more than $69,000 per year. Meanwhile, graduates from sixteen programs across the Commonwealth earned on average less than $24,000. Most of these are traditional liberal arts programs, such as Philosophy or fine arts related.  
    Wages by Program infographic
  • Across Virginia, setting aside nursing, graduates with degrees in business-related programs (including finance, accounting, and economics) earned more than other graduates. But students from different business programs could earn quite different amounts. For example, graduates from University of Richmond’s business administration program earned between $2,500 and $19,000 more than graduates in the same program from other universities across Virginia. 
  • Although differences in other popular bachelor’s degree majors were not as wide, recent graduates from Emory and Henry College’s psychology program earned around $22,000, whereas psychology graduates from University of Virginia and George Mason University averaged more than $32,000.
  • Among many of Virginia’s community colleges, earnings of graduates with a technical associate’s degree could exceed $10,000 more than those with a bachelor’s credit–oriented associate’s degree; in three community colleges (John Tyler, Germanna, and Lord Fairfax), the difference was greater than $12,000.

More findings are available at the College Measures website.

PDF icon The Earning Power of Recent Graduates From Virginia’s Colleges and Universities

Related Work

15 Oct 2012
News Release

VA-EMS_press_release_WagesBA_by_Inst_Artboard_11.gif

Analysis Finds Wide Wage Disparities Among Virginia College Grads

Recent graduates of Virginia colleges who majored in nursing or business draw higher salaries in their first year out of college than their peers who earned degrees in history or English, according to an analysis of newly released data on the first year earnings of alumni. In some cases, those with an associate’s degree out-earn those with a bachelor’s.

Further Reading

  • Analysis Finds Wide Wage Disparities Among Virginia College Grads
  • Higher Education Pays: The Initial Earnings of Graduates of Texas Colleges and Universities Who Are Working in Texas
  • Report: In Texas, First-Year Income of Certificate Holders Can Exceed Earnings of Those with Associate’s or Bachelor’s
  • First Year Earnings of Recent College Graduates in Colorado Vary Widely, Depending Upon Their School and Their Degree, New Report Finds
  • Associate’s Degrees—The Next Big Thing?
Share

Topic

Postsecondary Education

RESEARCH. EVALUATION. APPLICATION. IMPACT.

About Us

About AIR
Board of Directors
Leadership
Experts
Clients
Contracting with AIR
Contact Us

Our Work

Education
Health
International
Workforce

Client Services

Research and Evaluation
Technical Assistance

News & Events

Careers at AIR


Search form


 

Connecting

FacebookTwitterLinkedinYouTubeInstagram

American Institutes for Research

1400 Crystal Drive, 10th Floor
Arlington, VA 22202-3289
Call: (202) 403-5000
Fax: (202) 403-5000

Copyright © 2021 American Institutes for Research®.  All rights reserved.

  • Privacy Policy
  • Sitemap