If you're looking to make good money right away right out of college in the state of Florida, you might be better off going to Florida International University than the University of Florida.
In fact, FIU has a higher percentage of graduates who are working or continuing their education within one year of receiving a bachelor's degree than both UF and FSU grads.
The info comes froma new set of metrics devised by the Florida Board of Governors that are designed to evaluate how each of the 11 public universities in Florida prepares its students for the Florida workforce. A $20 million pot of money is divvied up among the schools as performance bonuses.
Sixty-eight percent of FIU students are either working or continuing their education one year after graduating. Compare that to 63 percent of both FSU and UF. Only FAU (69 percent), UCF (69 percent), USF (69 percent), and UNF (71 percent) have higher rates.
And of those graduates who find employment in Florida one year after earning their degree, FIU students are making the most. The median income for those FIU grads is $35,264. No other public university ranks higher. Compare it to FSU's $30,396 and UF's $32,176. (Of course, some of those school's brightest grads might get recruited for jobs out of the state, and those incomes are not considered. Then again, FIU grads work out of state too.)
All in all, FIU scored a 5 out of 9 based on the benchmarks set. Only USF and UCF rank higher at 6 (they received an extra point for their total cost for a four-year education being under $25,000. FIU costs $26,791 for four years). Which means FIU won $2,173,913 in extra funds.
The worst-performing school on the metric? New College of Florida, which is officially dubbed "Florida's public honors college." Less than half of its graduates are working or are still studying a year after graduation, and they're making an average of only $22,366. It's also Florida's most expensive public university.
Private schools, such as the University of Miami, are not tracked by the Board of Governors.
[via HuffPo Miami]
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