By Stephani Cox
Staff Writer
Out of more than 1,200 schools, California State University, Bakersfield has been ranked number nine in the Educate To Career College Ranking Index.
ETC is a neutral nonprofit organization that focuses on providing middle and high school students and their parents with outcome-based data. This is a systematic way to aid in choosing a college and to plan for a career. For a fee, parents and colleges can purchase more in-depth reports.
President and Founder Michael Havis said this was the second year that ETC has published their outcome-based ranking index for U.S colleges.
The annual average salary for recent graduates at CSUB was unavailable, requiring a premium data purchase for $100. This is because they are a non-profit organization and the fee is where they make their money for research and data collecting.
“The ETC CRI measures the improvement in employability and earnings that a college imparts to its students, relative to students similarly situated at other schools,” said Harvis.
Salary information for post-graduates is determined aggregating all employed recent graduates from a school and all majors, calculating the average salary.
For local middle-and high-school students the ranking was developed, “to enable you to identify schools that provide a quality education with proven career placement records, at the lowest possible cost. We define ‘quality education’ as being the development of a skill set that is marketable, i.e. a real career with stable earnings,” according to http://www.jobsearchintelligence.com/etc/about.php.
“Number 9 is a pretty good number but there’s still room for improvement to be number one. Our tuition isn’t that high cost. We have some pretty good business programs and nursing programs too,” said Ali Avila, 19, business major.
“50 percent recent college grad unemployment/underemployment is a fail. If college was free would these failed outcomes be any different?” Havis said.
“It gives you hope because a lot of professors tell you its just the beginning. It gives you hope that B.A’s are actually worth something,” said Yesenia Vargas, 23, sociology major.
“I’m surprised to hear that Bakersfield [university] can help you get a job. Its very inspiring and hopeful,” said Keren Valenzuela, 20, art major.
The ETC index does not include Ivy League schools because they only accept students with a higher IQ and “are more adept at selecting winners than they are in creating winners,” according to an FAQ response.
