Cal Poly Grads, Alumni Earn Top Starting, Mid-Career Salaries

December 09, 2010

Contact: Stacia Momberg
University Public Affairs
805-756-6260
smomberg@calpoly.edu

Cal Poly graduates and alumni top all other UC and CSU campuses and plenty of private universities when it comes to their median starting career salaries. At mid-career, their median salaries top all UC and CSU grads except Berkeley's and UC San Diego's, and are still ahead of many private university grads. But Cal Poly offers alumni - and parents - a greater "return on investment" than private universities and UCs by delivering that earning power at much less cost.

Cal Poly Grads, Alumni Earn Top Starting, Mid-Career Salaries

Those are among the latest findings in a growing evaluation of university costs and benefits compiled by two independent groups: PayScale.com and CollegePortraits.org.

 

As an example, according to the evaluation, Cal Poly alumni earn just as much as graduates of the private Pomona College or the University of Southern California, at less than half the diploma cost.

 

The data, which includes only graduates with bachelor's degrees, shows that students with the greatest "return on investment" are those who do well in technical majors at a top public school.

 

The return-on-investment rankings were featured in a Nov. 14 story in the San Jose Mercury News. Read the story in the Mercury News online.

 

More highlights from the graduate salary story in the Nov. 14 San Jose Mercury News:

 

Median Graduate Salaries, Bachelor's Degree Grads
Data gathered from a nationwide survey of 1.4 million people, compiled by College Portrait and PayScale.com

University

Starting Salary

Mid-Career Salaries

Cal Poly

$55,000

$99,200

UC Berkeley

$53,100

$109,000

UCLA

$50,700

$91,600

UC Davis

$49,000

$90,700

UC San Diego

$48,700

$99,700

UC Santa Barbara

$47,600

$96,400

 

Cal Poly conducts its own annual surveys of graduates' job placement and salary information. To read the results of previous alumni salary surveys, visit the Cal Poly Career Services Web site at www.careerservices.calpoly.edu, or visit the Career Services Graduate Status Report archives.

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Note: According to the most recent Cal Poly Graduate Status Report (2008-2009), the approximate median annual starting salary for Cal Poly Engineering graduates is $61,000.

Photo: 2010 Cal Poly Engineering grads at commencement. Photo by Chris Leschinsky