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Bachelor's
degree not enough for recent college graduates
By
Lauren Nelson
Online Forty-Niner
Staff Writer
As
Cal State Long Beach alumni make their way
into the workforce, many are realizing they
need more than the average bachelor's degree
to get a job that will provide a salary
to live on.
In
many ways the bachelor's degrees is considered
the new high school diploma and many prestigious
job markets now require a master's degree
at the least.
"Just
about everybody has a B.A. now and it's
getting harder to find jobs," said
2003 CSULB graduate Sheryl Zook who recently
left her job in importing/exporting to become
a full-time graduate student.
Employers
are no longer just looking for education;
they are looking for people with the most
internships and experience, as well as ingenuity
and a good list of extracurricular activities.
Kevin
Roberts, a former member of the CSULB basketball
team and 2004 alumnus says it was easier
for him to get a job due to his status as
a key basketball player, even though he
had little past work experience.
It
took him a month, during which he went on
30 interviews and wore business attire borrowed
from friends, to find his present job that
supports his newfound comfortable lifestyle
of making his own schedule, having his own
apartment in Belmont Shore that he doesn't
have to share with roommates and a lifestyle
that is admired by many students.
"You
just can't have high expectations out of
college," Roberts said. "If that
were the case I'd be a rock star now."
With
a year of study abroad and a marketing internship
under her belt, international business major
and Spanish minor, Nicole Morasca was forced
to move back to Gilroy with her parents
when she was unable to find a job after
graduation last spring.
Morasca
says she didn't get enough experience while
in school so the jobs that were offered
to her were mostly unreliable, with no benefits
and paid largely on commission. She now
works for Hertz Car Rental and hopes to
be promoted to branch manager.
"It
sucks nowadays. You can't be picky and sometimes
you have to settle for your first job —
hopefully you don't get stuck there the
rest of your life," Zook said.
According
to the Department of Institutional Research,
the average student spends five years on
a single bachelor's degree, but it is not
unlikely to spend up to seven years.
After
putting so much time into one field, many
people agree that graduates rarely go into
their major fields. According to CSULB Alumni
Relations, there are no records of what
students do upon graduation.
"It's
just impossible [to know]," said Assistant
Director of Communication and Marketing
for the CSULB Alumni Association Tony Alves.
"There are so many factors because
some people take a year off or just get
part time jobs. Some [alums] never contact
the university once they leave."
Some
university officials agree that less than
40 percent of the people who file to graduate,
actually graduate. With expectations that
their degrees will be confirmed, their diplomas
will come in the mail and they will be able
to start a new career as college graduates,
many students become disappointed and furious
months after walking across the graduation
stage when they receive notification that
their degree cannot be processed. Many blame
enrollment services for overlooking mistakes
like undercounting units and counting a
class as a capstone, when really it is not.
To top it off, these let down graduates
are forced to pay the tuition fee to complete
the last units. |
