DALLAS, Nov. 14, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Yes and no, says Mark Schneider, president of College Measures and a vice president at the American Institutes for Research, in the fall edition of Issues in Science and Technology. "It depends on what, where, and how long one studies," says Schneider, "but the outcomes do not align with conventional wisdom." Based on analysis of detailed data from five states on the wages people were earning after completing certificate programs or earning two-year or four-year degrees in a variety of disciplines, Schneider arrived at several surprising findings.
The data indicate that some short-term credentials are worth as much as long-term ones, that the school one attends is less important than is usually believed, that the field of study is more important than the place of study, and that study in technical fields is more financially rewarding than pure scientific training. In four of the five states, graduates with two-year degrees earn more in the first year after graduation than do those with four-year degrees. Graduates of several regional four-year colleges earn more in the first year than graduates of the state flagship university. In several states, people who complete long-term certificate programs of one to two years in many technical or health-related fields earn more on average than the typical two-year degree graduate.
Schneider's purpose in collecting and publishing this information is to enable young people to make better-informed decisions about what they want to study. First-year salary should not be the only criterion for choosing where and what to study, but with total student loan debit reaching $1 trillion, Schneider argues that it is certainly information that students and families should have.
Also in this issue, Carolyn Mattick and Brad Allenby of Arizona State University explore the implications of the technology that just produced the first laboratory-grown hamburger. The coming reality of factory-produced meat could transform the food system, the environment, and even our culture. MIT's Sebastian Pfotenhauer reveals how the current round of trade negotiations between the United States and Europe hinge on scientific and technological concerns over health, safety, and the environment.
Finally, we welcome Arizona State University as a new co-publisher of Issues.
ISSUES IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY is the award-winning journal of the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, the University of Texas at Dallas and Arizona State University. www.issues.org.
Contact: Kevin Finneran 202-641-1415
SOURCE Issues in Science and Technology
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