Life After UMaine - 2004/05 Baccalaureate
Degree Recipients
Introduction
The Office of Institutional Studies recently
completed a survey of the 1,460 individuals receiving UMaine
baccalaureate degrees in December, 2004, and in May and August,
2005. A total of 700 degree recipients returned the survey for a
response rate of 51.3% (35 students with international addresses
were not mailed surveys and there were an additional 93 graduates
for whom no address could be obtained). The following report
summarizes the employment and educational status of those UMaine
graduates. At the time of the survey, six to fifteen months had
elapsed, depending upon conferral date.
Employment After Graduation
Of those graduates who responded, 73.9% found
full-time work (down from 75.4% last year), while 12.4% were
working part-time, unchanged from last year. Individuals only
involved in graduate school comprised an additional 8.1% of
2004/05 graduates (up from 5.6% last year), while 5.6% of the
respondents were unemployed, down from 6.7% last year (see Figure
1). 82.9% of those reporting full-time employment indicated that
their job was related to their degree. In addition, 13.4% of
recent graduates working full-time and 58.0% of recent graduates
working part-time were also attending graduate school, for a total
graduate school attendance rate among employed respondents of
15.3% (n = 107). Overall, 26.3% (n = 184) of 700 respondents
reported being enrolled in graduate studies (regardless of their
employment status).
Figure 1.
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Where are the jobs?
Nearly two-thirds (66.3%) of the graduates in
2004/2005 that reported working full-time remained in Maine, which
is similar to the count from last year. Not surprisingly, the
location of graduates’ work differed between those originally from
Maine and those not from Maine. Among the graduates from Maine,
72.0% remained in Maine (representing a decrease of 2% from last
year) and 28.0% left Maine for work. Of those graduates not from
Maine, 27.0% remained in Maine to work after graduation (down from
36.4% last year) while 73.0% left Maine to work, up from 63.6%
last year (see Figure 2).
Figure 2.
The proportion of graduates remaining in
Maine to work differed by their college. 84.3% of graduates from
the College of Education and Human Development, 67.9% of graduates
from the College of Business, Public Policy and Health, and 67.2%
of graduates from the College or Liberal Arts & Sciences – Social
Sciences remained in Maine (see Figure 3). 65% of the College of
Liberal Arts & Sciences- Physical Sciences graduates found work in
Maine, as did 61.2% of those from the College of Engineering,
56.4% of those from the College of Liberal Arts &
Studies-Humanities, and 52.4% of those from the College of Natural
Sciences, Forestry, and Agriculture.
Figure 3.
How well did UMaine prepare
its graduates?
Of those employed full-time in a job that was
related to their area of study, 84.6% believed that their UMaine
experience prepared them "Very Well" or "Moderately Well", and
only 15.4% reported being "Minimally Prepared" or "Uncertain"
(both figures similar to last year). Of those graduates enrolled
in graduate school (regardless of their employment status, n =
184, or 26.3% of respondents), 92.7% felt UMaine had prepared them
"Very Well" or "Moderately Well" (up somewhat from 88.1% last
year), and 7.3% reported feeling "Minimally Prepared" or
"Uncertain", down from 11.9% the previous year.
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Who is attending graduate
school?
26.3% (n = 184) of 700 respondents reported
being enrolled in graduate studies (regardless of their employment
status). The academic groupings of these graduates that had the
highest rate of graduate school attendance were the College of
Liberal Arts & Sciences- Physical Sciences (43.4%), College of
Natural Sciences, Forestry, & Agriculture (37.7%), and the College
of Liberal Arts & Sciences- Social Sciences (36.8%). The colleges
that had the lowest proportion of graduates attending graduate
school were the College of Business, Public Policy, and Health
(17.1%), and the College of Engineering, with 20.9% (see Figure
4).
Figure 4.
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What do they earn?
The median salary of the 441 graduates who
reported being employed full-time (and who reported their annual
income) was $31,000, down from $32,000 last year. The median
salary for those employed in Maine full-time was $30,000
(unchanged from last year), and for those that worked outside the
state it was $36,000 ($35,000 last year).
Median salaries of those working full-time
varied by academic grouping. For example, among all respondents,
the median salary of graduates from the College of Engineering was
highest at $45,000, and the median salary of those receiving
degrees from the College of Education & Human Development was the
lowest at $27,000 (see Table 1).
Table 1.
|
College |
Median
Salary
|
Median Salary
(In Maine)
|
Median Salary (Outside Maine) |
|
$ |
n |
$ |
n |
$ |
n |
|
Business, Public Policy, & Health |
39,000 |
104 |
38,000 |
75 |
40,000 |
29 |
|
Education & Human Development |
27,000 |
79 |
26,500 |
65 |
31,000 |
14 |
|
Engineering |
45,000 |
45 |
44,500 |
29 |
50,000 |
16 |
|
LAS- Humanities |
27,500 |
29 |
25,750 |
14 |
31,000 |
15 |
|
LAS- Physical Sciences |
40,000 |
14 |
25,000 |
9 |
50,000 |
5 |
|
LAS- Social Sciences |
30,000 |
55 |
28,000 |
37 |
33,750 |
18 |
|
Natural Sciences, Forestry, &
Agriculture |
30,000 |
50 |
30,000 |
23 |
32,000 |
27 |
|
UNIVERSITY TOTAL |
31,000 |
380 |
30,000 |
255 |
36,000 |
125 |
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Method
The survey was mailed to baccalaureate degree
recipients, who graduated in December, 2004, May, 2005, and
August, 2005. Follow-up surveys were mailed approximately four,
eight, and twelve weeks after the initial mailing to those who had
not yet responded. Survey recipients were also given the option
of completing the survey on-line, with 54 choosing to respond
electronically (7.7% of total respondents). A total of 700
graduates provided usable responses to the survey, yielding a
return rate of 51.3% (35 graduates with international addresses
were excluded from the mailings; there were an additional 93
graduates for whom addresses could not be obtained). At the time
of the survey, six to fifteen months had elapsed since graduation,
depending on conferral date. The proportion of respondents by
college did not vary from the proportions in the populations of
all graduates by college by more than three percent.
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