Volume 68, No. 1
IS YOUR DEGREE STILL WORTH IT?
WWW.PANAMERICANONLINE.COM
August 29, 2011
UTPA lands $72M By Roxann Garcia The Pan American
Part I of “The Identity of the University” Series
Reynaldo Leal/THE PAN AMERICAN
By Karen Antonacci The Pan American “Q: How do you improve the aerodynamics of a music major’s car? A: Take down the pizza sign.” Gabriela Bravo, a 19-year-old San Juan native who is double majoring in music and nursing, said she was all too familiar with this type of liberal arts major stereotype. “A common one is when I tell them that I’m a music major, the next thing I hear is, ‘OK, what’s your real major?’” she said. In regard to her double major, Bravo said that both of them interest her, but nursing offers more job security. “In the event I don’t do well in music, nursing is a guaranteed job and it pays well enough to survive off of,” she said. “People are always sick.” While the high school counselor mantra about earning more money with a college education than without holds true – just a bachelor’s degree caused incomes to jump up an estimated $26,000 annually according to the National Center for Education Statistics -- not just any degree will nab those higher salaries. Science, technology, engineering and mathematics students are more in demand than others, leading many to wonder if, in
this economy where a job offer can be rare, is it still worth it to incur considerable debt for a non-STEM major? Shaney Flores, former chair of the UT System Student Advisory Council who recently graduated with a English/ psychology double major said that life after graduation was uncertain for a while. “I spent a lot of time filling out applications, trying to get interviews and find out about openings from anyone I knew who could help me,” Flores said. Not only do non-STEM majors take longer to find a job, they also earn less per year than their peers. A 2009 NCES study recorded median annual income for students a year after they received their bachelor’s. STEM students pulled in an estimated $12,000 more than their counterparts. With student loan debt a major player in household finances, that salary difference would allow STEM students to pay off loans more quickly and make way for other expenses and/or investments. OUTLOOK BLEAK FOR CREATIVE FIELDS So-what does all that student debt buy you? Many see college as an investment for a future career but a similar NCES study that caught up with students 10 years after
they earned undergrad diplomas suggests that for some majors, a bachelor’s is not very useful. While the majority of business and education students had careers pertaining to their major, those from arts and humanities and social and behavioral sciences had extremely low numbers of students working in those fields after 10 years. On the STEM side of things, however, every single major sent the vast majority of students into their chosen careers. Looking at the majors individually, for example, shows that both computer science and engineering students are a full four times more likely to work in their field than are those from arts and humanities subjects, such as English, sociology, or art. The few number of professional musician positions compared to the high demand for nurses prompted Bravo in her plans to try music first and then go back and finish nursing if it doesn’t work out. “The nursing degree is obviously more useful than the music, but it depends on what kind of job you’re looking at,” she said. “Plus, if you want a job in the music area, you need a degree plus a considerable amount of luck, connections, and of course, talent.” Although many of the non-STEM
Median Annual Earnings for Full-Time Young Hispanic Workers
majors went on to work outside their chosen field, interestingly, data on career perceptions were very similar for STEM and non-STEM students. About 90 percent of both groups said they considered their current work a career and about 60 percent said that their undergraduate education was very important to their job. Flores agrees. After adamantly searching for a job for three months after graduation, he landed a position managing a cognitive psychology lab at Washington University in St. Louis. Even though it only officially makes use of one of his degrees, Flores said he would major in psychology and English again if given the chance. “One got me my current job while the other one helps me to better understand and interpret materials I have to read,” said the 22-year-old Harlingen native. “A STEM field degree would have certainly gotten me a job faster and that paid more, but I have learned that while those things are important, what is more important is that you do what you love. In the long run, I don’t mind sacrificing money and job offers for something I love doing.”
Student debt and median salary STEM vs Non-STEM Salary
Salary
$ 48,000
Bachelor’s degree or higher Some College
$ 34,500
vs Debt
$ 22,800
73.4% 56.8%
Debt
$ 22,800
62.5%
56.0%
High School or GED STEM
Non-STEM
BA Required in Job Source: HTTP://NCES.ED.GOV
STEM
Non-STEM
Job Related to Major
Erick Gonzalez/THE PAN AMERICAN
In one day the Rio Grande Valley received over $72 million in funds to be directed at creating a long-awaited home for the arts, as well as support for science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and healthcare education at UT institutions. The University of Texas System Board of Regents approved a $30 million plan to expand educational programs, recruit faculty and bolster operations in the lower part of the RGV while also approving the construction of a nearly $42.7 million Fine Arts Academic and Performance Complex at The University of TexasPan American. “With over one-third of all UT System students attending institutions in South Texas…investments such as the board is making in this region are vital…to a chronically underserved area of the state.” Regents’ Chairman Gene Powell said in a news release. The decision comes almost two months after a controversial 30-day special session held in June where the 82nd Texas Legislature slashed funding for programs in health and human services and education. After all that painful budget cutting in the past year, the Valley is getting a helping hand, as Thursday the Regents unanimously approved an action plan recommended by UT System Chancellor Francisco G. Cigarroa. And UTPA had some input sometime ago, as it turns out. “When I first got here there was a retreat where all the presidents got together,” President Robert Nelsen said. “The Chancellor came forward and asked us what are some of the things we want to focus on to make sure we succeed. We then came up with several initiatives. One was keeping Austin at the level they’re at, another was emerging research universities and making sure they got Tier One. But one was to do something for education in the Valley. We just kept morphing a plan. It was once a booklet of 40 pages and then it became three pages. We finally had something for the Regents.” As part of the “Framework for Advancing Excellence throughout The University of Texas System,” the recommendations of the Task Force on Productivity and Excellence and the Task Force on Blended and Online Learning, the LRGV plan reflects important steps forward in increasing productivity and improving academic quality. Within the framework the board also committed $234.6 million for projects across the 15 other institutions and System Administration.
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