We see graduates booing commencement speakers over AI comments.
The CEO who was booed at Middle Tennessee State University’s graduation ceremony has doubled down on his comments about artificial intelligence.
New college graduates may need to manage their expectations for their first job.
The average college student expects to earn $80,000 after graduation, according to a new study from Clever Real Estate. However, the actual starting salary for a college graduate is closer to $56,000.
The survey comes at a time when college students are spending more on higher education than ever before, taking on more debt, and graduating into a tough job market.
In Clever’s research, current students say they expect to earn an average of $80,004 a year after graduation. In contrast, the average full-time employee between the ages of 18 and 25 with a bachelor’s degree earns $56,153, according to Census data.
Most students in the study overestimated their ability to earn a degree. For example, a major in education can expect a starting salary of $75,186. Clever reports that the actual starting salary for teachers is approximately $46,500.
Engineering students expected a starting salary of $92,452. The actual starting salary for this field is $78,731.
The survey involved 769 college students and was collected in February and March.
Report author Jamie Dunaway Seale said college students may have unrealistic hopes for starting paychecks at a time when the cost of housing, consumer goods and almost everything else is steadily rising.
“I think they look at the world around them, see how much things are out there, and come up with a number that they think is fair to them,” she says.
College graduates face a tough job market. . .
College graduates face a tough job market. The unemployment rate for college graduates ages 22 to 27 was 5.6% in March, according to federal data. The overall unemployment rate was 4.2%.
The percentage of newly unemployed people entering the labor force recently reached a 37-year high, according to a report in Groundwork Collaborative and Fortune.
The job market for new graduates has been steadily deteriorating in recent years, with a hiring shortage reminiscent of the Great Recession.
In a 2025 survey by the National Association of College and Employers, about half of employers rated the job market for college graduates as “fair” or “poor.” The percentage of employers who have a pessimistic view of the job market for new graduates has increased every year since 2022.
Companies are hiring less due to economic instability, budget cuts, lower overall hiring numbers, and the intrusion of AI.
. . . However, there are signs of improvement.
However, there are signs of improvement.
NACE’s latest employment outlook, released in April, predicts that graduate hiring will increase by 5.6% this year. Of the 166 employers surveyed, 34% expected jobs to increase, while just 11% expected jobs to decline.
The report said many companies expect to hire more graduates as they are in growth mode, building talent pipelines and enjoying increased demand for their products and services.
Salaries for new graduates are rising, according to another new report from NACE. The survey shows that expected salaries are increasing in most fields. Computer science graduates are expected to earn $81,535, an increase of 6.9%. Graduates in the Department of Communication are expected to earn $63,767, an increase of 5.7%.
“We’re seeing some positive signs in the labor market,” said Mary Gatta, director of research and public policy at NACE.
Gatta said one encouraging sign is that employers are saying less about replacing entry-level workers with AI. In a recent survey, only 11% of employers said they were discussing job cuts around AI.
“The need for AI skills is increasing, which is not really surprising,” says Gatta. “But we asked employers how they want new graduates to leverage AI, and it’s really about adding jobs, not replacing them.”
Gatta offers some tips for current college students.
GPA isn’t as important to potential employers today as it once was, she says. NACE research shows that the percentage of employers screening applicants for GPA remains low, dropping from 73% in 2019 to 37% in 2023.
Instead, employers value experience and skills. Internships are especially important. Employers cite internships as the most important determining factor when choosing between equally qualified applicants.
“So from a recruiting perspective, internships are very important,” Gatta says.
