LSU Graduates’ Salaries Beat Competitors

LSU's excellence and value recognized in series of recent rankings

Commencement

LSU's excellence and value have been recognized in recent rankings by PayScale, Washington Monthly and Kiplinger's Personal Finance. Photo: LSU Strategic Communications

09/05/2017
BATON ROUGE – Recently released rankings put LSU as best in Louisiana and a leader in the SEC in one of the most important outcomes to today's students:  return on investment.

“For years, the public has had to rely on rankings that emphasize how many students a university turns away, and how much money is spent on the select few allowed admission,” said LSU President F. King Alexander. “We welcome the newest breed of rankings that look at outcomes and offer families more transparency as to what they’re getting for their investment. LSU has proven to be a place where students can get an exceptional education with a great return on investment with starting salaries that are, on average, $12,000 higher than students graduation from other universities.”

According to PayScale’s 2017-18 College Salary Report:

  • LSU graduates have early career earnings of $52,700 and mid-career earnings of $100,400.
  • LSU ranks highest in Louisiana among public universities for both early career and mid-career earnings.
  • When looking at public SEC peers, LSU ranks third for early career earnings behind only Texas A&M University and University of Florida, and fourth in mid-career earnings behind only Texas A&M University, Auburn University and University of Florida.
  • Among the 50 public flagship universities in the nation, LSU ranks in the top half in both early career and mid-career earnings – 21st in early career earnings and 18th in mid-career earnings.

In Washington Monthly’s recently released 2017 College Guide and Rankings:

  • LSU ranks 70th among public universities and 108th overall – as the highest ranked university in Louisiana.
  • Among public SEC peers, LSU is ranked fifth, ahead of the University of Alabama, Auburn University and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, among others.

The Washington Monthly rankings come on the heels of LSU being recognized by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance in the 2017 “Best College Value” rankings. For in-state students, LSU is rated 65 among Kiplinger’s Top 100 Public College, putting LSU as the highest rated public university in Louisiana.

LSU has also recently been ranked on Forbes list of America’s Top Colleges and U.S. News & World Report’s National Universities Rankings, which will release the 2018 Best National Universities rankings next week.

Payscale’s early career earnings metric is the median salary for alumni with 0-5 years of experience, while mid-career earnings is the median salary for alumni with 10 or more years of experience. PayScale’s College Salary Report provides salary data for alumni of a total of 2,441 associate and bachelor’s degree-granting institutions throughout the U.S.

Washington Monthly ranks schools based on social mobility (recruiting and graduating low-income students), research (producing cutting-edge scholarship and Ph.D. graduates) and service (encouraging students to give something back to their country).

For more information about achievements at LSU, visit www.lsu.edu/accolades.

 

 

Contact Ernie Ballard
LSU Media Relations
225-578-5685
eballa1@lsu.edu 

 

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