NEWS RELEASE

Oct. 15, 2014

CONTACT: Jack Beresford
jberesford@sdccd.edu
619-388-6540
@sdjackb


San Diego City College Graduates among Highest-Paid,
2-Year College Graduates in the Country


With a median mid-career salary of $70,900 annually, San Diego City College alumni are
among the highest paid 2-year college graduates in the country, according to a new report
by a Seattle-based firm with the largest database of online employee compensation in the
world.

San Diego City College ranks No. 2 out of 349 schools included in the report, behind the
Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, whose graduates earn a median mid-career
salary of $71,000, says PayScale.

Mid-career salaries are defined as annual earnings after 10 years in the
workforce. PayScale looked at salary data collected from graduates of public community
colleges, private for-profit schools, and private not-for-profit schools.

Not only are San Diego City College graduates doing well in the workplace, but 68
percent of say their job makes the world a better place.

Dr. Anthony Beebe, President of San Diego City College, said, The report indicates that
San Diego City College is offering high-demand education programs to the community,
and employers are willing to pay premium salaries to our graduates of these high-demand
programs. Our faculty is very innovative about how they teach.

Most popular jobs for San Diego City College alumni, according to the PayScale report,
include registered nurse, maintenance engineer, legal assistant, engineering technician,
and graphic designer.

San Diego City College alumni include Jim Sinegal, who co-founded Costco Wholesale
Corp. in 1983;Josh Higgins, a creative director for the communication design team at
Facebook who served as design director for President Obamas 2012 campaign; Houston
Astros pitching coach Brent Strom; and Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist
David Hasemyer

City College was so inspiring, I couldnt get enough, Higgins said. For the first time
in my life, I loved school.
Hasemyer expressed similar feelings. City was a tremendous place for an education with
small classes and tremendous instructors like journalism professor John Markley,
Hasemyer said. Even now, I call City my school. Im in continuing education tennis
classes at City. And when people ask me why I make the trip from my home in South
Bay, I say because it feels right. City is my school.
City College isnt the only San Diego Community College District (SDCCD) campus that
fared well in the latest PayScale report. San Diego Mesa College ranked No. 49 with a
median mid-career salary of $60,700, according to the survey.

A separate study by Idaho-based Economic Modeling Specialists Inc. recently showed
that the average student who graduates with an associate degree from the San Diego
Community College District will see an increase in earnings of $11,700 each year
compared to someone with a high school degree or equivalent. Over a working lifetime,
the increased earnings will amount to an added total income of approximately $421,200.

The San Diego Community College District is the largest workforce trainer in San
Diego County, said Constance M. Carroll, SDCCD Chancellor. Because this is one of
our most important functions, it is good to see the value of the education we provide
affirmed by this good news about our alumni.
Seventy-seven percent of San Diego City College alumni were low-income, Pell grant-
eligible students when enrolled at the college, according to the PayScale survey.

As the second-largest of Californias 72 community college districts, the San Diego
Community College District serves approximately 100,000 students annually through
three two-year colleges and San Diego Continuing Education. The three colleges, San
Diego City College, San Diego Mesa College, and San Diego Miramar College, offer
associate degrees and certificates in occupational programs that prepare students for
transfer to four-year colleges and entry-level jobs.