Alumni survey reflects national trends

The average salary for graduates of the class of May 2007 working full time was $26,823, according to responses to a survey mailed eight months after graduation. The B.S. graduates ranked their preparation at 5.6 on a scale of 7, and they reported it took them almost eight weeks to find a job.

The average salary was several thousand lower than graduates from the two previous years. Graduates of the class of 2005 and 2006 reported salaries that averaged $30,000. This class performed an average of 1.8 internships, a number that has held steady in recent years. The class of May 2007 ranked their happiness with current positions at 5.7 on a 7-point scale.

CU's numbers reflected the national statistics that show the job market recovery that began two years ago for graduates of U.S. journalism and mass communication programs seems to have stalled, according to an annual study by the University of Georgia's James M. Cox Jr. Center for International Mass Communication Training and Research.

The small number of May 2007 master's graduates who responded reported an average salary of $42,000.