NIU students graduating with four-year degrees can expect to receive a mean income of $18,097, about $3,000 less than last year’s national average.

Northwestern University’s 1988 Lindquist-Endicott Report stated the national average salary for graduates with four-year degrees was at $21,068 in 1987.

Overall, salaries across the United States will rise an average of 4.18 percent in 1988, Northwestern’s report stated.

Jean Callary, Career Planning and Placement Center’s recruiting coordinator, said she does not see a change in the fact that NIU students are “pulling down salaries that are competitive with other colleges.”

Callary said the salary figures compiled for four-year graduates in NIU’s 1986-87 Graduate Follow-Up Survey “could be misleading” since many students continue their education and later receive a higher salary.

She said after college, graduates’ incomes are generally at a training level, and most graduates will see a salary increase relatively soon after they are employed.

“Most NIU students leave here into training programs, unless they have a specific skill they can walk in and do,” Callary said.

Corporations put new employees through training programs because “they expect you to go into a mid-range management position knowing what’s going on,” she said.

Callary added even though it takes graduates three or more months to land a job, it is not too early to look at ads to discover what qualifications a person needs for future openings.

Graduates should find out how often their prospective employer rewards a higher salary, Callary said. A salary increase every six months is generally good, she said.

“Graduates should look at more than the entry-level salary they’ll receive,” Callary said.

The follow-up survey showed gains over the mean salary that last year’s graduates received in the colleges of business, professional studies and visual and performing arts.

However, the study reported smaller mean salaries for four-year graduates of the colleges of education, engineering and engineering technology and liberal arts and sciences.

“Hiring will be selective with recruiters looking for specific competencies, academic achievement and indications of leadership in extra-curricular activities,” the report stated.

“It has been several years since we have seen data that portends such good economic and recruiting activity,” the survey said.