College Grads: 4-Year Employment, Education Debt, and Enrollment Outcomes

In 2012, four years after completing their bachelor’s degrees, the majority (69 percent) of 2007–08 graduates were employed and not enrolled in additional postsecondary education, 11 percent were combining employment and further enrollment, and 6 percent were enrolled and not employed. The National Center for Education Statistics released a new Statistics in Brief today, June 21, entitled Four Years Later: 2007–08 College Graduates’ Employment, Debt, and Enrollment in 2012. This report focuses on a cohort of students who completed their bachelor’s degrees during the 2007–08 academic year, examining their employment, education debt, and enrollment experiences 4 years after college. Among those graduates who reported a current or most recent primary job, the largest percentage was employed in business or management (21 percent) in 2012. Among 2007–08 bachelor’s degree recipients, 40 percent had been unemployed for 1 month or more at least once during the 4 years since they earned their degree. Among employed 2007–08 graduates who were repaying their undergraduate or graduate loans, monthly loan payments accounted for about 12 percent, on average, of their monthly salary in 2012. This report uses data from the Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study (B&B:08/12), a nationally representative study of students who completed the requirements for a bachelor’s degree during the 2007–08 academic year.