College Graduates

Listen up college seniors, you have the upper hand in the job market this year. So that means you could be pickier about your first job, which can set the groundwork for the rest of your professional life. "I really believe that the chief value of the first job out of college is to help you figure out what you like, generally your strengths, what you're good at, and what you don't like, generally your weaknesses and what you're not good at," says Dede Bartlett, a former executive at two Fortune 500 companies who lectures on career issues to college students.

Maryland's single greatest competitive advantage in today's high-tech, global economy is its well-educated work force. But that is also its great vulnerability: Workers eventually retire, and unless the state replaces each retiring generation with a generation that has an even larger proportion of college graduates and holders of other post-high school certificates, its competitive edge could soon disappear. Will Maryland do what it takes to keep raising the education level of its work force?

The declining percentage of male students in higher education -- a trend uncovered by a self-described "little numbers cruncher from Iowa" -- is the topic of a daylong symposium at Goucher College tomorrow."

The city's Trial Courts Judicial Nominating Commission has approved three more candidates for a forthcoming vacancy on the city Circuit Court.The commission voted by secret ballot to place Stuart R. Berger, George M. Lipman and John B. Sinclair on a list of approved judicial candidates. They join a pool that includes Nancy E. Gregor, William S. Little and Susan M. Marzetta.The vacancy will occur July 17 when Judge Robert I. H. Hammerman retires. The names of the candidates were forwarded to Gov. Parris N. Glendening, who will make the selection.

NEW YORK -- It was reassuring for many to hear Alan Greenspan, chairman of the Federal Reserve System, say that the current American economic performance was about the most impressive thing he has seen in 50 years of daily numbers-watching. "Strong growth and low inflation" were the numbers he cited.But there are other people watching other numbers who raise fundamental questions about what is actually going on in these boom-boom-booming times. The numbers people at the U.S. Department of Labor, for instance, report this:While median earnings for college graduates increased by 12 percent from 1980 to 1996, the median earnings of high school graduates declined by 6 percent.

GRADUATING college students get their launch into the working world this month, and, if surveys by the University of Michigan and National Association of Colleges & Employers are to be believed, their prospects haven't been this strong in years. To be sure, the economy is humming along at its healthiest pace since 1987, government figures out last week show. What fields are hot and where's the money? What skills are employers looking for? Is it too late for a May or June grad to start looking?

TOKYO -- At 21, Yoshiyuki Tenmei feels like "a complete social dropout." He just spent a grueling year sending out hundreds of job applications, being grilled by personnel experts and taking a battery of tests.Now, in this nation where company affiliation defines status, identity -- one's very life -- the young man is about to graduate from college as the embodiment of social failure: He is a man without a "meishi," or business card.This is what popular magazines are calling "a super ice age," because record numbers of Japanese college graduates are failing to get jobs.

Despite the creation of more than 4 million jobs since President Clinton took office, many of them for college graduates, the wages of men with bachelor's degrees have continued to deteriorate, a study by a Washington research organization has found. Administration officials say the findings are probably accurate.The study, by the Economic Policy Institute, is the first to find that the hourly wages of the college-educated lost ground to inflation even after the nation's economy began to recover from recession in the spring of 1991.

WASHINGTON -- As college seniors leave their dorm rooms, many will be leaving something else behind as well: health insurance.Of the estimated 1 million students receiving college diplomas this spring, the American College Health Association says 20 percent will lose their health insurance when their college health plan expires or when they no longer qualify as dependents on their parents' policies.Collin Winterbottom, a researcher in the Health and Long Term Care Department of Urban Institute, a nonprofit research organization, said that although more college graduates secure long-term coverage (60 percent)

The personal computer, a revolutionary technology only 15 years ago, has found its way into almost one-third of the homes in a nation that actively likes technology, according to a nationwide survey of more than 4,000 Americans."

As soon as our college graduates throw their caps in the air this month and next, they will be throwing their clothes all over the house. And leaving dishes in the sink and shoes in the hall. And borrowing the car and leaving the gas tank on empty and staying out late and scaring us half to death. And sleeping late on weekends and disappearing out the door with friends without so much as a look behind. One of the realities of this economy is that our children will have a really tough time finding a job after college and, if they do, it isn't likely to pay them enough to allow them to live the life they have been accustomed to. Taxes and health insurance payments can sure put a cramp in your going-out style.

Just three years ago, the job market for college graduates was hot. Companies were filling more entry-level jobs and offering higher salaries than in previous years. The National Association of Colleges and Employers called 2006's job market the best it had seen in four years. Today, the environment is markedly different. Employers expect to hire 22 percent fewer graduates from the Class of 2009 compared with hiring from the previous class, according to a NACE survey released last week.

This month, the University System of Maryland launched an information campaign to help put more students on a college-bound path at an earlier age. It's a welcome development, because the United States, accustomed to leading the world in higher education, is now facing a shortage of college graduates. (The state's independent colleges and universities, Morgan State University, St. Mary's College and Maryland's 16 community colleges have established similar initiatives.) By the end of the next president's first term, there will be 3 million more jobs requiring a bachelor's degree and not enough college graduates to fill them; 90 percent of the fastest-growing jobs, 60 percent of all new jobs and 40 percent of manufacturing jobs will require some form of postsecondary education.

Attention, college graduates: You're about to say goodbye to all-night study groups, pizza diets and midafternoon naps. And many of you will need to accept more financial responsibility. But some of those about to leave college for good next month worry they are not up to the task of handling issues such as insurance, investments, student loans and real estate. And many have some big financial decisions to make during the coming weeks as they move beyond classes and into their careers.

Alcohol abuse under-treated CHICAGO -- More than 30 percent of American adults have abused alcohol or suffered from alcoholism at some point in their lives and few have received treatment, according to a new government study. Alcoholics who got treatment first received it, on average, at about age 30 - eight years after they developed dependence on drinking, researchers reported. "That's a big lag," especially combined with the fact that only 24 percent of alcoholics reported receiving any treatment at all, said study co-author Bridget Grant of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

College graduates with heavy student loan debt face a complicated landscape this year as they approach the annual deadline for consolidating their loans into a single payment plan. Managing student loan debt has become increasingly important for many college graduates, as the median debt for student borrowers rose more than 60 percent from 1996 to 2004. In recent years, rates have risen significantly when they've been reset July 1, making the decision to consolidate relatively easy. Not doing so before the deadline meant owing a lot more money in the long run. But this time around, the rates for variable interest federal loans, which include Stafford Loans and PLUS Loans, are scheduled to increase by only 0.08 percentage point July 1. Based on a federally mandated formula, rates for borrowers still in school, those who have been graduates for less than six months, or those in deferment will be set to 6.62 percent.

Maryland's single greatest competitive advantage in today's high-tech, global economy is its well-educated work force. But that is also its great vulnerability: Workers eventually retire, and unless the state replaces each retiring generation with a generation that has an even larger proportion of college graduates and holders of other post-high school certificates, its competitive edge could soon disappear. Will Maryland do what it takes to keep raising the education level of its work force?

Applications are being accepted for the 2007 Baltimore City Mayoral Fellowship Program. The program, which will run from June 11 to Aug. 3, is open to students in their junior or senior year of college, and to graduate students and recent college graduates. Fellows, who are paid stipends, will be assigned to projects focusing on such areas as urban planning, public policy and municipal services. They will make presentations to the mayor and her Cabinet at the end of the program. The application deadline is March 1. Information or application: www.ci.

Listen up college seniors, you have the upper hand in the job market this year. So that means you could be pickier about your first job, which can set the groundwork for the rest of your professional life. "I really believe that the chief value of the first job out of college is to help you figure out what you like, generally your strengths, what you're good at, and what you don't like, generally your weaknesses and what you're not good at," says Dede Bartlett, a former executive at two Fortune 500 companies who lectures on career issues to college students.

As a teenager, Mary Sanford Williams yearned to become a lawyer. But at the time, there was no money for college. Finally, now that she has graduated from Baltimore City Community College - at age 80 - the West Baltimore resident is closer to her goal. BCCC's oldest graduate this year plans to become a legal assistant. According to The Sun's Sumathi Reddy, Ms. Williams, who had a 3.5 grade-point average, did not attend the graduation ceremony last week because she is in summer school and has started course work at the University of Baltimore on the way to getting her bachelor's degree.