Doug Davis would like to see 25 percent of NIU’s 25,000 students placed in cooperative education jobs. He’s about 5,000 shy of that goal.

“Co-op ed” is a “win-win situation,” Davis insists. For students, it means work experience, course credit, paychecks and possibly higher starting pay after they graduate. For employers, it’s a chance to preview the skills and aptitudes of potential full-time employees. Families helping put someone through college also appreciate the help.

An added bonus is that there’s a 70 percent chance that those in co-op ed programs will move into full-time professional jobs upon graduation.

All it takes to start a co-op match is a call to Davis at 815-753-7138.

Davis, named recently by NIU Provost Kendall Baker as NIU’s co-op ed and student internship director, has been part of NIU’s co-op program since its inception in 1984. He notes that nearly 2,000 employers take part in the program, almost double the roughly 1,300 students currently involved in it.

To qualify, a student must have completed 30 credit hours of college work, maintain a 2.0 grade point average, and have an intended major.

Employers who want to participate must offer a genuine training experience and a pay rate that any other employee would receive for the same work.

Co-op students must be as productive as other workers and can be fired if they don’t perform well, Davis adds. They can work part-time while attending classes, or alternate semesters working or taking courses. Typically, their co-op jobs last nine months to a year.

While students in these jobs might take a bit longer to graduate, they also pay at least part of their own expenses, gain valuable job experience and often start full-time, post graduation jobs at higher pay levels than those with no such experience.

Co-op jobs are readily available for students majoring in computer science, accounting, and engineering. However, art, theater, history, sociology, political science, and anthropology students can also find a place in the program.

Federal job opportunities have included the U.S. Marshall Service, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the Internal Revenue Service.

The students are assigned an NIU coordinator who monitors their progress and responds to any concerns raised by the employer or the student. NIU faculty members wHo act as liasons often report that students returning to classrooms after a work experience earn higher grades, Davis said.

“One of the things a student must learn is that everything won’t be ideal in a work setting,” said Davis. “They may find people who are difficult to work with in a variety of companies. Students sometimes don’t understand the value of this kind of experience until they become seniors. Many of them come here their senior year, and we can’t do anything for them.”