Since the recession started in 2008, many college graduates have struggled to find suitable jobs in their fields. Parents and students who have started to doubt a degree’s value may want to consider colleges that offer cooperative education, which allows students to rotate between classes and jobs.
Through co-op education, students gain valuable experience that helps them land jobs after graduation. The dozens of schools that offer co-op education maintained their high rates of placing graduates during the 2008-2009 recession — and continue to do so.
“It’s been demonstrated, and I speak broadly, throughout North America, as well as many other countries we work with, that co-op students do very well in the job market,” says Paul Stonely, CEO of the World Association for Cooperative Education.
“My experience has been, even during a recession, or I’ll say particularly in a recession, there is more of an inclination of companies to hire the co-op student because they know they’re hiring someone with professional experience,” says Stonely. “If they’re hiring fewer [employees], they obviously want to be very selective. We didn’t experience any downturn in hiring co-op students during the recession period.”
Northeastern University, which has one of the oldest co-op programs in the country, is a prime example. From 2006 to 2012, 90 percent of Northeastern grads were in full-time jobs or graduate school within nine months of commencement. Eighty-seven percent of graduates who were working had jobs related to their major. Of those, half had received a job offer from an employer where they worked as co-op students.
“Co-op, we continue to hear, is a big draw,” says Kara Shemin, media relations manager at Northeastern. “I think the word ‘jobs’ and knowing the job market is tough is a draw. It’s also the experience. Kids are going to be better prepared for the workforce because of their time on co-op.”
