Haley Colvertino of Hampden said it wasn't really a slap at the college but a way to raise awareness of what seemed like a sharply devalued document.
HAMPDEN — When Haley Colvertino graduated from college two years ago shouldering $25,000 in student loan debt, she wasn’t too worried.
Haley ColvertinoIn fact, she was so filled with optimism she left the University of Massachusetts at Lowell two weeks before graduation, after she had banked her final credit.
But Colvertino became rapidly disenchanted when she realized her bachelor of arts degree in psychology hardly guaranteed a dream job in a dismal market. Today, after hundreds of unsuccessful interviews and working part-time at the front desk of a Gold’s Gym, Colvertino has taken the unconventional tack of offering to return her degree for a refund. She even went so far as to send Chancellor Martin T. Meehan a certified letter.
“I am struggling to pay off my student loans and would like to return my degree,” Colvertino wrote, conceding it was a tongue-in-cheek offer but that she wanted to inform the highest ranks of the university of the plight of legions of graduates.
The lack of response from the college suggested the diploma was a final sale. Colvertino, 24, said it wasn’t really a slap at the college but a way to raise awareness of what seemed like a sharply devalued document.
However, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics from 2011 show that college graduates suffered from significantly less unemployment woes even a bad jobs market. While those with less than a high school diploma reported around 14 percent unemployment (six points above the national average) those who earned their bachelor’s degrees reported 5 percent unemployment and doctoral degree recipients reported 2.5 percent unemployment.
Career placement experts also said the type of degree you earn can help determine your fate in a competitive field.
“An undergraduate degree in psychology doesn’t lend itself to a very clear path,” said David Gadaire, executive director of CareerPoint, a nonprofit job placement center in Holyoke. “She should really be coming into a center like ours and we can try to get her on the right path.”
Gadaire also said while he understands the frustration of new graduates like Colvertino and a growing number of law school graduates who have elected to sue their alma maters for false advertising, a college degree is still an inarguable advantage. However, Colvertino said she has been turned away from a series of low-level jobs because her college degree and neophyte job history have rendered her overqualified.
Academic officials at UMass-Lowell said they are aware that Colvertino’s graduating year produced an all-time low in terms of job placement, but the university offers alums lifetime assistance through the career center on campus, which includes resume building, interviewing skills assistance, job search tools, professional networks and more.
“We tell all students: If your resume isn’t getting you interviews, you need to look at you resume. If your interviews aren’t getting you offers you need to look at your interview skills,” UMass-Lowell Assistant Dean of Career Development Patricia A. Yates said, adding that the feedback wasn’t personal to Colvertino.
Yates said the market is looking up, however, and UMass-Lowell's career fair in April was over capacity in terms of employers and recruiters.
In the UMass-Amherst business education sector, a career specialist there said graduates are posting positive numbers recently for job placement. Nicholas P. Wegman, executive director of the Chase Career Center, Eisenberg School of Management, said self-reported statistics from the class of 2011 indicated 84 percent were employed in their fields of choice within six months of graduation.
“When students come in as freshmen, they take a class called ‘Transition.’ It’s sort of like a general introduction into business: they learn about resumes, networking, business etiquette, time management. Compared to many of their peers, these students are on a path almost immediately,” Wegman said, adding that they are encouraged to enlist in multiple internships before seeking full-time employment.