Students Avoiding Computer Degrees, Even Though Jobs Are Plentiful
IT (Information Technology) pays well and there are tons of available jobs. And guess what? Americans under the age of 30 don't actually seem to want them.
The Computing Research Association's Taulbee Survey is an annual study conducted at universities with Ph.D. programs, and this year's shows a 20% drop between 2005-06 and 2006-07 in students completing bachelors degrees in professional IT fields.
The CRA's study also found that total enrollment in computer science programs at these North American universities fell to 46,227, a 50% drop over five years before. Oh, and if anyone's taking the jobs, it's white men. From the study:
Perhaps even more alarming is the drop in the fraction of bachelor's degrees awarded to women, from 14.2 percent last year to 11.8 percent this year. [The] fraction of new female students is reported now to be less than 10 percent in many bachelor's programs. Ethnicity is also less diverse, with the proportion of white, non-Hispanics receiving bachelor's degrees rising to 66.0 percent from 59.6 percent just two years ago. [These] are serious problems in achieving our field's diversity goals.
Still, it's hard to explain just why the drops are happening. Computer Science is tied for second with health majors for the highest median salary at the bachelor's level ($45,000), and tied for first with engineering at the master's level ($65,000).
We'd need a degree in computer science sociology to figure this one out. [Source: Betanews]
