
Delta pushes to give students information on graduates’ career success and employment
Student loan debt has reached over $1.1 trillion. And there is a constant flow of young adults starting college for the first time and students graduating, going out into the workforce to find a job.
With student loan debt at an all-time high and unemployment rates at 7.8 percent in Michigan, finding the right college and getting the right degree are essential for today’s students.
There are many ways to let future and current students know the degree they’re going for is the right one and they choose the right college to get an education. One way colleges do this is by putting up graduate career success rates.
Delta has resources for finding the annual salary and job description for most of the programs they offer on their website, but is lacking in graduates’ career success information.
“We have very little,” Michael Wood, Institutional Research Director at Delta for 10 years, said. “We have a 35 percent response rate.”
A National Association of Colleges and Employers report found the average response rate for mailings is 48 percent.
Wood explained that six months after students graduate, a mailer is sent to them asking multiple questions including, if they’re employed, if they’re employed in their field of study and what their salary is.
“Students may answer the employment part but not put their salary,” Wood said.
If a student doesn’t answer the first mailer, they send a second mailer out, Wood explained, and then a third if the second isn’t answered.
“It can get expensive,” Wood said, estimating the budget for materials and supplies to be around $10,000.
“Students stop looking at their Delta email after they graduate,” Wood said, so even though getting ahold of students electronically could be cheaper, it is less efficient without updated emails.
Martin Finney, a career advisor at Delta, said since the response rate is so little for graduate job placement, Delta has tried to find other ways to give students information about job outlooks.
Finney suggests to students if they’re staying local to use Delta’s Career Coach. Career Coach is an online resource designed to help students find current employment, wages, job postings and more.
“The information is current,” Finney said, pointing out that this way students can get an actual look at what jobs are out there instead of relying on information from graduates’ career success if only one person answered the survey.12
Get Top Stories Delivered Weekly
More Collegian News Articles
- Delta commencement ceremony honors hundreds of students
- Delta opens learning center in Uganda
- Meet the new members of the Delta Senate
- Abortion insurance law now in effect in Michigan
Recent Collegian News Articles
Discuss This Article
MOST POPULAR COLLEGIAN

Family fun awaits at Dow Diamond By Nicole Black and Lindsi Hebert

Water park hopes to flood with more visitors By Jeffrey Alcorta

Delta opens learning center in Uganda By Kaitlyn Skrzypczak
GET TOP STORIES DELIVERED WEEKLY
FOLLOW OUR NEWSPAPER
LATEST COLLEGIAN NEWS
- Family fun awaits at Dow Diamond
- Minor League, major fun!
- Too little too late
- Delta commencement ceremony honors hundreds of students
- Monsters, zombies and blood help students learn in English class
- Delta opens Veterans’ Lounge
- Delta pushes to give students information on graduates’ career success and e...
RECENT COLLEGIAN CLASSIFIEDS
OUTSIDE THE LINES
- What You Need To Know About Marfan Syndrome
- As Extreme Disasters Mount, Help Ensure No One Faces...
- Save Time, Save Money And Go See The World
- Even Good Dogs Have Bad Days
- Understanding Sickle Cell Disease
- What to Know About Pregnancy and COVID Vaccines
- What to Know About Pregnancy and COVID Vaccines
- What to Know About Pregnancy and COVID Vaccines
- What to Know About Pregnancy and COVID Vaccines
- Postal Service Celebrates the 50th Anniversary of the...
FROM AROUND THE WEB
- Custom Rings Are the Perfect Fit for Special Occasions
- How to Think About AI in the Workforce
- CARSTAR Kick Starts Summer with Yeti® Cooler and Swag ...
- BookBites: A Modern Fable About Preparing for Your Future
- How to Make 'Trying' Less Trying
- Self-Help, Mystery, the Afterlife and Animal Rescue
- From High School to High Pay and a Personally Rewarding...
- 10 Pool Opening Tips for Swim Season 2023
- Top Water Safety Tips for Kids and Families this Summer
- How to Help Your Aging Parents
COLLEGE PRESS RELEASES
- DOSOMETHING.ORG LAUNCHES GENERATION FUTURE AWARD TO RECOGNIZE YOUTH LEADERS FUELING CHANGE
- The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi Announces Study Abroad Grant Recipients
- Shoff Promotions Comic Book & Sports Card Show
- Earth Day Bombshell: An Open Letter to the UN Provides Educators, Psychologists and Students With Suppressed Remedies for our Broken World Lies and Painful War on Nature.
- Leading Publisher, Taylor & Francis, Hosts Webinar for Researchers in Environmental Sciences on How to Get Published, Make an Impact and Save the Planet