Which state university grads earn the most?

(MoneyWatch) Which of the nation's top state universities produce graduates who go on to make the biggest bucks?

Among all 50 state "flagship" schools, recent graduates of the University of California-Berkeley earn the highest median starting salary, at $53,100, according to CollegeMeasures.org. In comparison, new graduates at the University of South Dakota in the small town of Vermillion earn the least, at $35,900.

State flagship universities are typically the most prestigious public university in each of the 50 states. Such school typically attract higher performing students, receive greater financial support from their respective state governments and enjoy the best graduation rates among public institutions in their states. 

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State flagships whose grads earn the highest starting salaries

1. University of California-Berkeley: $53,100
2. University of Maryland: $50,600
3. University of Michigan-Ann Arbor: $50,600
4. University of Virginia: $50,500
5. University of Connecticut: $49,500
6. University of Texas: $49,100
7. Penn State University: $48,600
8. University of Wisconsin: $47,900
9. University of Delaware: $47,300
10. University of Washington: $47,100

State flagships whose grads earn the lowest starting salaries

1. University of South Dakota: $35,900
2. University of Montana: $37,400
3. University of South Carolina: $39,400
4. University of Hawaii: $40,300
5. University of Oregon: $40,600
6. University of Kentucky: $40,600
7. University of Missouri: $40,900
8. University of Nebraska: $40,900
9. University of New Mexico: $41,100
10. University of Mississippi: $41,200

The salary figures were generated by research firm PayScale.com and made available through CollegeMeasures, which among other things lets people compare how private and state schools compare in terms of salaries, grad rates, freshman retention rates and more.

For those dreaming of attending UC Berkeley, meanwhile, the cost may be prohibitive if you aren't a Californian. The price tag for non-residents is nearly $56,000 a year.

[MickMoon]

Where the heck do they get these numbers? I mean, I am sure some people make 60-80k out of school, but the majority of kids getting out today are making probably around $25-32k, and that's if they're lucky enough to find a job. Not to be the negative one here, but that is the truth. The realistic statistic should be which colleges (and perhaps majors) get employed in their field. It's probably something like 20-30%. And how many of those people will be able to afford their loans? People who get out of school and can keep up with payments while working in their field and making over $40k out of college..probably less than 10%.

[dclivingstone]

Mick-

U of Maryland grads, for example mostly go into State and federal positions. I know this for a fact because I used to screen many of their applications.

[bared100]

Getting into Berkeley City College, establishing your residency and then transferring to UC Berkeley would be the best bet... they have less stringent residency requirements, and you could get your "core" curriculum classes out of the way, and save yourself about 50-60 grand in the process. Establishing residency and financial independence can take up to 2 years, 1 year and 1 term for residency alone.

[AOCGUY]

As an employer I don't care where someone graduated. I do care if they did or not, and if they did what their degree is in. What I do care about is what they know, what they can do, and how long they have been doing it. As for salary, where they graduated has nothing to do with what I will pay them. Now where the job will be (we have employees all over the country) will matter as we compete with other employers in those areas.

[AOCGUY]

Has anyone considered that many if not most grads stay in the states or at least regions of the nation where they went to school? Someone graduating from Cal is more likley to work in California than someone graduating from Ole Miss and vice versa. This is a very good example of meaningless figures. Cost of living in the states with the highest salaries are also the highest. Maybe a quality of life surevy of graduates would be a better indicator. I live in the SOuth and I stringly suspect that the quality of life I can afford on my income is much better here than what I could get in the SF Bay area on the same salary.

[AOCGUY]

I must not know any average people then.

[nuttin5]

Well University #9 UDELAWARE with an Engineering degree for the princely sum of 120K + netted a piece of heavy gauge paper worth about $700 a square inch and thats all it was worth.

Yes go into STEM careers, Engineering will net you a job, well if the school doesn't have an alumni base, companies that do not recruit its grads, well you are so out of luck.

Inspect the career surveys, at UDEL Engineering department you will see perhaps 50% respond and of those 50 % that do respond, about 1/2 have gotten a job. so those odds are NOT very good.


Should have gone to PENN STATE

[ludvig1-2009]

Comparing apples and oranges. People with engineering degrees get the higher salaries. The University of Missouri at Columbia is not the State University with the most engineering degrees, you need to look at Rolla and Missouri University of Science and Technology for that. Yes, Columbia does give engineering degrees, but not in the quantity Rolla does. Based on where you work, companies pay more. I'm a Rolla grad and my son, also an engineer graduated from Sac State. He started at around $70K a year because it's California and that's what they pay. Of course the cost of living here is so high, that was barely enough to buy a condo after the housing market collapsed.

[Nova2050]

Of course there are differences in the mission and function of the public universities within their state. Within a state you may have a technical college and a liberal arts/business college. Within a state there may be relatively elite public universities that have high-level admission requirements, and others that are expected to be the educator for the regular state citizens...to educate perhaps the less qualified people from that state. Also, all schools do not offer the same set of majors, so that differences among schools on graduates' salary may reflect differences in their distribution of majors. Large states obviously have greater opportunity for specialization of state universities, state universities in Rhode Island could hardly specialize along the lines of those in California or Texas.

[aChangeOfIdeas]

I don't know about the other schools, but Penn State is not really a "State School", it is only partially state funded. It is not part of the State University System, despite its name. Its tuition will reflect that as well.

[BillGNYC]

Penn State has 27 campuses and they are the only land grant university in the Commonwealth. It is a state school, but like other best public universities (U Virginia, College of William and Mary, and U Michigan) the Pennsylvania state government invests almost nothing in the operations of the school. Its a financial/political hustle because they impose a huge tuition differential for out of state students to subsidize the in state students. Someday, someone will sue to end this practice since all state universities receive much more Federal investment than state dollars.

[kocipka]

Salaries in the North East and California are higher in general due to cost of living - this report is flawed in that it doesn't distinguish between region or state the graduates accepted their jobs. It's not an apples to apples comparison. If they were from a university in the North East, they are more likely to accept a job in the North East thus they will have a higher salary (no matter what university they finished), than someone graduating from University of Kentucky and taking a job offer in Kentucky. It is highly unlikely that someone graduating from University of Kentucky, taking a job in Connecticut will get a lower salary than someone who graduates from UConn and takes a job in Connecticut.

[aChangeOfIdeas]

well said... I was going to make a similar comment but I'll just say "ditto" to yours :D

[frankblank]

It certainly isn't apples to apples. Comparing UC Berkeley to the U. of S. Carolina is bizarre in the extreme. (I went to Penn State, and SUNY, so I have no regional biases about those two.)

Check recent statements of the S.C. governor for a sample of the state's "intellectual" climate.

[MisterBll]

Gee, maybe all the money I've sent to Delaware for my son's education hasn't been a waste. He does have a well paying job lined up (higher than the numbers here) after he graduates in May.