Earnings Data, SHSU COBA Graduates, 2002-2021.

Below are graphs depicting the annual earnings for SHSU graduates of the College of Business Administration, broken down by major, graduation year (academic year), and years since graduation, for each graduating class from 2002 until 2021. Earnings are reported by calendar year, so for anyone graduating during the (say) 2018-2019 academic year, the first year's earnings are for the year 2020, earnings three years out are for 2022, and so on. This data comes from Texas Crews, and is neither a survey nor a sample. The data came directly from earnings records reported to the state for all graduates working in Texas, only leaving out people working outside the state. This is the good stuff!

The entrepreneurship graph is shorter, as this program is relatively new, and supply chain is merged with management and banking with finance. The MBA is omitted as its earnings are a poor measure of the value added by the program, since many MBA students already have considerable work experience. Each year’s earnings are adjusted for inflation into 2023 dollars and are smoothed with a three-year moving average. The University of Houston and Texas State University are the default comparison schools, with others included when necessary. The gaps in the graphs correspond to occasional gaps in (or problems with) the data.

Majors with fewer graduates exhibit more variability, and even for larger majors changes on the scale of one or two years should be interpreted cautiously. They may or may not amount to anything in the longer run. On the other hand, trends of five years or longer generally represent something significant. Changes in earnings over medium-run time periods will reflect a combination of program quality and the type of students who "select in" to that major. Simultaneous changes to all schools' earnings probably represent changes in market conditions (most easily seen for the Great Recession in 2009 and 2010). Examining the earnings of a given cohort (e.g., SHSU management majors graduating in 2016) one year, five years, and ten years after graduation reveals "growth potential," which also depends on skills acquired in college.

Accounting BBA