Last year, at least 90 percent of the student body participated in cooperative education before graduating. The off-campus, professional-level employment aligned with their academic interests and allowed students to work six months up to three times during their college career.
It also helped graduates land jobs in their chosen career field as 44 percent of 2012 co-op participants were offered jobs by former co-op employers.
“Drexel students are in a unique advantage because they graduate with about 18 months of professional experience thanks to their co-op jobs,” said Peter J. Franks, vice provost for career education at Drexel. “As a result, 92 percent of the class of 2012 was either employed in college labor market jobs, enrolled in graduate school, or entered the military.”
In 2010, a Federal Reserve Bank of New York study found that, though more than 62 percent of jobs required a degree, only about 27 percent of graduates worked in a field closely related to the major. Such research, which does not include graduate school students, is becoming increasingly more important in conversations about the value of a higher education.
As college tuition costs rise, more students, parents and taxpayers are asking institutions to show a return on the financial investment. They are calling for more data to assess whether a college education can deliver the high-paying, professional positions graduates seek in their chosen career fields.
“Institutions need to be nervous because more and more people want to know about the economic value of the education,” said Anthony P. Carnevale, director and Research Professor of the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce. “Colleges never had to be accountable. Now, if you’re a for-profit college, you have to demonstrate that the program gives people the skills to get a job to pay back the loan.”
