The Report Card
A monthly newsletter that gives you the facts...
Volume
1, Issue iii
July 26, 2002
In This Month's Issue:
Employment After GRCC
Next month's
issue will feature :
Retention and Graduation
For more
information
about this survey or other surveys, please contact Erika
Prager or Fia
Eliasson.
Background:
GRCC is able to assess the employment status of its professional/technical students through the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges Data Linking for Outcomes Assessment (DLOA) tracking system. Each year, college records are matched with Employment Security unemployment insurance records in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Alaska, and Montana to evaluate the success of students exiting professional/technical programs in the Washington community college system. Self-employed students or students employed in states outside the Northwest are not included in the DLOA reporting system.
GRCC offers twenty professional/technical programs in the areas of business, industrial technology, trades and health sciences. Every year an average of 1,100 new students enroll in professional/technical programs for the purpose of work related training. Many students leave GRCC before obtaining a degree or certificate because employment prospects are good. Students who have finished all program core courses equaling 45 credits or more with a 2.0 GPA are considered successful and prepared for work by the State Board. For the purpose of this report, these students have been combined with graduates and are labeled "completers".
Highlights:
Between 1996 and 2000, over 4,000 students exited professional/technical programs at GRCC. Of these students, 48% completed the program (completers) and more than half (52%) left the program with less than 45 credits earned (leavers). (See Figure 1).
- Of the students considered completers, approximately 67% obtained a degree or certificate.
- Of the students that obtained a degree or certificate, 60% were female and about 16% were students of color.
- Of the leavers, almost 21% left the program after completing only a quarter or two (10 credits or less).
Nearly 85% of all completers were employed seven to nine months after leaving GRCC, compared to 81% of students who left the program with less than 45 credits. (See Figure 2).
- Approximately 85% of the female students who completed the program were employed seven to nine months after leaving GRCC compared to 77% of those who left the program. (See Figure 3).
- A majority of the students were working full-time (30 hours or more per week) after leaving GRCC (71% of completers and 70% of leavers).
Completers earned higher median hourly wages compared to students who left GRCC with less than 45 credits ($13.55 compared to $12.77). (See Figure 4).
- The median hourly wage for all students working full-time was substantially higher than for those working part-time ($14.14 versus $10.72).
- The median hourly wages for completers working full-time were $14.20 compared to $11.74 for those working part-time. (See Figure 5).
- On average, females earned less than males. (See Figure 6). Females who completed their programs earned $12.90 versus $14.52 for males. Female completers who worked full-time earned $13.49 compared to $15.28 for males working full-time.
Students leaving GRCC after completing their professional/technical program increased their hourly earnings by 39% compared to 18% for those who left the program. (See Figure 7).
- The median hourly wage before college for completers was $10.31 compared to $14.30 after completing their program at GRCC.
Learn More About The Office of Research and Planning
If you have additional questions, please contact
Erika Prager at ext. 2569 or Fia Eliasson at ext. 2568