Harvard Losing Out to South Dakota in Graduate Pay: Commodities

Harvard Losing Out to South Dakota in Graduate Pay: Commodities - Bloomberg

"Harvard University’s graduates are earning less than those from the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology after a decade-long commodity bull market created shortages of workers as well as minerals"

"Those leaving the college of 2,300 students this year got paid a median salary of $56,700, according to PayScale Inc., which tracks employee compensation data from surveys. At Harvard, where tuition fees are almost four times higher, they got $54,100. Those scheduled to leave the campus in Rapid City, South Dakota, in May are already getting offers, at a time when about one in 10 recent U.S. college graduates is out of work"

 

OK -- but what do you do with your mining degree when the commodity markets head in the other direction ?

That's what happened in the 1980s and 1990s, and much of the profession was wiped out. The reason that mining engineers are in high demand in 2013 is because so few of them were left when the markets finally turned around:

It's a "boom and bust" field. Right now, yes, it's booming. But the boom won't last forever.