

Alumna makes $1 million gift to help liberal arts students find jobs - smoyer
http://live.psu.edu/story/60897#nw4

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lutusp
There's no more eloquent testimony to the limited value of a liberal arts
degree than the idea that someone would offer seed money just to get new
graduates hired somewhere.

There's a reason science, engineering and math degrees are more difficult to
acquire -- they're more useful to people who live in the real world.

For those unaware of the economic spectrum of college degrees, I offer this:

[http://www.universitylanguage.com/blog/07/college-
graduate-s...](http://www.universitylanguage.com/blog/07/college-graduate-
salaries-by-field-and-major)

The top 2: computer science and engineering.

The bottom 4: history, English, psychology and sociology.

~~~
smoyer
And supply and demand is clearly in effect ... The fastest way to increase
hiring and salaries would be to produce fewer graduates but this is directly
at odds with the faculty in these departments goals.

~~~
lutusp
> The fastest way to increase hiring and salaries would be to produce fewer
> graduates ...

Yes -- this kind of manipulation is often seen in medicine, where professional
associations of doctors do what they can to reduce the supply of new
graduates.

But absent the above effect and ironically, in spite of the clear economic
value of technical degrees, they're difficult seats to fill within a
university. My theory about this is that students don't understand economic
issues until after they've graduated.

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WiseWeasel
The jokes write themselves for this one, so that's no fun. Given how poorly
most liberal arts majors I know are making use of their degrees, I could
certainly see the value in this sort of program to help them build more
attractive résumés. I had a science degree, so I didn't feel the need to rely
on much career guidance from the school.

FTA:

"The Leadership Assessment and Professional Development (LEAD) program..."

Looks like another liberal arts major might need a bit of help.

