Campus, News

CSULB ranked among top 10 in science and arts programs

Art and science majors at California State University, Long Beach rank in the top 10 for overall return on investment, according to a national report by Payscale, an online salary, benefits and compensation information company.

The College of the Arts and the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics at CSULB ranked fourth and ninth, respectively, in the company’s annual College Salary Report.

Cyrus Parker-Jeanette, dean of the College of the Arts at CSULB, said in a press release that the university’s art program equips students with “skills for life.”

“While few of us enter the arts or teach the arts because we expect an artist’s path to be the way to riches, our CSULB faculty and staff know it is absolutely vital that our students are provided with training necessary to make a good and rewarding living,” Parker-Jeanette said in the statement. “We are excited – but not surprised – to see that these numbers support that philosophy and show that our graduates are making a living, and a difference, with their lives after they leave our university.”

The National Institutes of Health gave CSULB a $22.7 million grant in 2014 to be given out over the next five years to help establish an initiative to “Build Infrastructure Leading to Diversity.”

According to the report, arts alumni with five years of experience or less earn an average of $36,900, a salary that rises to $85,500 for alumni with more than ten years of experience.

Physical and life sciences alumni reportedly average $45,100 in early career pay, and $96,000 for mid-career pay.

“After graduation, the first thing I tried to do was find a job that could pay the bills, but also pay down my loans at the same time,” said Tom Nguyen, an alumni of the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics who now works as a construction engineer. “It’s nice to know that alumni of CSULB are doing so well after school… It’s definitely reassuring.”

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