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Friday, May 2. 1975
University Daily Kansan
Degree no job guarantee
By MARK ZELIGMAN Kansan Staff Reporter
On May 19, the graduating seniors of the University of Kansas will receive a piece of paper saying they have completed their college educations. What they won't necessarily receive with that piece of paper, however, is a job.
Some seniors are having no problems finding jobs and good jobs at that. But others are finding none of their fields or to attend graduate school until the job market gets better.
Karl Taylor, Kingman senior, will get a B.S. in business administration on May 19. Drop by Taylor's room some day and you will hear him writing letters asking for job interviews.
He's not asking for interviews for a permanent job, however. The letters are aimed at getting a summer internship. Taylor is the only student admitted sally job immediately after his graduation.
"in good times, there ought to be a lot of people who don't care about it." But with the economy the way it is, people are afraid to expand. Not as many people are retiring or switching jobs, which restricts job growth.
So Taylor has decided to go to graduate school. He said he would enter the Manpower program, which is a combination of personnel administration and labor relations.
Taylor said his undergraduate degree was a flexible one which didn't limit his possible employment. He's a good student. He has a cumulative GPA of 3.3 and got a 4.0 one semester. He has interviewed several often the highest-rated companies he has used outside organizations, such as Work Force 57 and Project Sheepskin, in his search for a job.
Yet after all that, he still came up empty- handed.
"Everyone always said, 'That's a good field, really broad with lots of opportunities,'" he said. "Everyone, including myself, was optimistic. But everything sneaked up on me. It did all surprise me. I knew I had that much trouble setting a job."
Taylor has found the field to be more crowded than he once thought. His rejection
Taylor's failures at job hunting have taught him an even more important lesson.
"This has made me think harder about what I really want," he said. "It's helped me make some decisions. You sit around and think about it: 'What am I going to do? Where am I going from here?' Through all that reflection, you start making some decisions."
The decision he's made is to attend graduate school and eventually wind up in
Taylor wants a good job connected with his field, but can't find one. So instead of looking desperately all over the country for one, he is reconfigured to be in a city where he was what he really wanted anyway.
"I could get a job as a salesman now and start at the bottom," he said. "With this degree, I hope I can start out higher at a company."
"I know I could get a job somewhere, someone, some help. I'm out crazy and tried to, there's one. There's one."
Kathleen Thim, *Achim*; Belhert *Schoff*
graduate May 19 will have a job. Like
Taylor, she doesn't have a job. But unlike
Taylor, she doesn't know what she's going to
"What my degree does is qualify me for more education. "But I'm not concerned that right now."
She has applied with the State Fish and Game Commission for a job involving field work. She has interviewed for management trainee jobs with companies that don't need it, but she hasn't seen it for the State Welfare Board, which just wants someone with a college degree.
So far, Thum has heard nothing.
"I didn't think about it four years ago," she said. "I just assumed that when you graduated from college, you could get a job. I was pretty naive."
She said the poor economic situation was the main reason for her failure to find a job. Companies aren't doing biological research now, she said, and the government isn't hiring anyone new. If the job market weren't so bad, she said, she could get a job.
but she also blames herself for not having more foresight.
"I look at some of my friends I graduated from high school with, and they have good jobs," she said. "They have shiny, new cars and nice homes. I look at myself and save
"A lot of people figure when they come to college that they'll get out and get a job," she said. "They think that that's a long way ahead, then all of a sudden, it's not a long way away."
Gal Johnson will graduate with a B.S. in journalism in the advertising sequence. She is one of the best students in advertising, has been featured on national advertising manager for the Kansan.
Yet, like Taylor and Thum, Johnson doesn't have a job.
"I've called people, sent letters, watched the papers and am still sending letters," she said. "Unless you have connections or are at the right time, you won't get a good job."
But she said she was looking for jobs on newspapers and magazines, too. She said she wasn't restricting herself and wasn't begin picky.
She wants a job in an advertising agency.
Like Taylor and Thum, Johnson puts the blame on the economy.
"When the economy's bad, ad people are the first who will be cut to save some money," she said. "It isn't lack of experience that keeps you out of know-how. The jobs just aren't there."
She said she didn't think she'd wasted her time by going to college, but she said she would make some changes if she had a chance.
she was a few months ago. All her friends are still around in the college environment, she said, and everybody's afraid to think about the future.
Johnson said she wasn't as concerned as
"I'm past the stage of worrying," she said.
"That was a couple months ago. If something comes up, it will come up. Right now, I'm just wondering how I'm going to pay for the first month's rent. If I don't get a job, I'll take anything mental just to pay my bills."
Graduating seniors without jobs can choose to either stay in school, as Taylor plans, or continue looking for a job as Thum and Mr. Hogan. On Friday evening of May 19 could be a cruel surprise.
Karl Tauror
Gail Johnson
"I bury them when I can," he said of the rejection letters. "It's depressing going back."
letters all say the same thing: "We are im-
provable, any qualifications but do not have any opening."
Although somewhat depressed, Taylor said he wasn't bitter. He said he had no regrets about the war.
"Also in hindsight, I wish I could have gotten some past business experience in the summer. I always worked construction instead, to make money."
Therefore, this summer he's trying for a summer internship with an area company.
"In hindsight, I blame myself in that I thought I wouldn't have any trouble," he said. "I underestimated the economic situation.
What his job hunting experience has taught him, he said, is to work harder and start earlier at looking for a job. After he finishes his internship, he knows how to know the dos and dos not of applying for a job.
'What am I here for?' Staying up late all those nights studying seems kind of pointless now.
"But that's from a job standpoint. You get a lot more out of college than vocational training. My horizons have broadened. I'm glad I went."
She said her immediate plans were to go home to Atchison for the summer to work in a hospital as a lab technician. Also, she'll be writing lots of letters.
"I might even consider joining the armed forces," she said. "You get fed and clothes for two years, make some money and make some contacts."
"I want something that's science-oriented with some administrative responsibilities," he says.
Sometime, she said, she plans to go back to school sometime, she's confident she will turn job will turn
She partially blames the counseling department in inadequately advising her.
Ph.D. finds jobs scarce
By JAN HYATT
Kansan Staff Reporter
If one of higher education's goals is to produce talented, disciplined people to provide answers to the most urgent problems facing that Edward F. Block could find a job.
Not just any job, or one that uses only a small part of Block's training and capabilities. But a research task that applies concentrated knowledge of insect physiology and behavior to the problem of insect control crises increased food crises for the world's hungry.
But Block, who received his Ph.D. in physiology and cell biology last October, has just about given up on the possibility of finding such a position.
Despite his good academic record, favorable recommendations from KU's biology faculty and outstanding research in immunology have been received by cochock, Block has had no offers of research fellowships or teaching positions. He has written scores of letters and applications to colleges and universities across the country, including two foundation and to foreign governments.
"There are two standard replies," said
stock recently. "One is that I'm too qualified,
the other is that I don't know."
The rejection letters don't specifically explain in what ways he is over- or under-qualified. Block said. They just simply say "no."
he took a three-quarter time research assistance at the KU Pharmaceutical Laboratories in January, but his work there last month and the last paycheek comes June 1.
"I can work as a technician, but I don't get paid what I'm worth." Block said.
Of course, Block. 32, hasn't starved nor gone on welfare.
began his studies at the University of Texas, where he received a B.A. in zoology in 1965. He received his master of arts degree in biology from North Texas State University in 1968. With both degrees he took a minor in chemistry.
His doctoral dissertation was titled "Ethometric Analysis of Olfactory Receptor Function and Isolation of the Aggregational Pheromone of the American Cockroach, Periplasta americanus." It was a study of physiological processes.
Block, who is from Loma Linda, Calif.,
Besides his thesis and dissertation, Block has published two articles in the Journal of Insect Physiology and presented an abstract from a meeting at a meeting of the Society of Neuroscience.
He held four teaching positions while in graduation, and was a research associate for four research institutes.
William J. Bell, associate professor of entomology, was Block's dissertation editor.
Bell said it was especially discouraging that he would not receive a post-doctoral research grant.
"In the area that Eid's in, without a post-doctoral appointment, you're considered not to be ready for employment," Bell said. "And the opportunities for post-doctoral work are going down and down. It's a miserable situation."
"A few years ago that would have been severe, but nowadays you've got to have an impressive dossier of published articles to attract anyone's attention," he said.
Bell noted that Block had two publications besides his thesis and dissertation.
Bell said he and other faculty members had expected that Block would receive a research grant or find a position without much trouble. Coach physiology. Block's specialty, is the study of human physiology and behavioral mechanisms and can be applied to other animals, Bell said.
University and college teaching positions in life sciences are becoming scarce, Bell said. He said Block had applied for teaching positions which drew hundreds of applicants, and some of these applicants were associate professors with years of teaching experience.
According to an article in the Dec. 6, 1974, issue of Science magazine, scientists in biological fields face a diminishing job that their own numbers are increasing.
For Edward Block, the real human being on the other side of the statistics, frustration and disappointment at being highly educated and in the job that he does best lead to a lapse of bitterness.
"I know my abilities and capabilities . . . it's almost as if you're kept from doing something you can do and want to do." he said.
He still waits for answers from four prospects. The National Institute of Health was supposed to have notified him April 1 about whether his proposal for a study in insect neurophysiology would be funded. He hasn't heard.
He sent applications for temporary teaching positions at Emporia Kansas State College and at the University of San Francisco, which he has any real hopes of getting, he said.
His highest hope is for receiving a fellowship from the government of New Zealand which would allow him to do that work, he said, on that chance should come any day now.
Editor's note: The Kanans is pleased to report that as the graduation section went to press, Block received the fellowship from the government of New Zealand for research in insect control. However, his difficulties in finding a satisfying job that fully uses his education are typical of the frustrations of some of today's highly educated graduates.
By Staff Photographer DON PIERCE
Kathleen Thum
"This is a reason for concern," he said. "It says that from a business standpoint we have to make a strong, positive collection effort to get them to repay their loans."
Graduating seniors face
Ronald Hamilton, University compriller, said the University of Nebraska had the highest default rate of the Big Eight schools, which have an average default rate. His has a 1.89 per cent default rate.
By ALLAN QUACKENBUSH Kansan Staff Reporter
With graduation around the corner and few jobs in sight, the repayment of student loans is causing more and more concern to students and loan administrators.
The default rate on student loans has risen nationally to 14 per cent. But the rate at the University of Kansas is considerably lower. According to figures released by the National Direct Student Loans program (NDSL), KU's default rate is 4.9 per cent.
As of June 30, 1974, Hamilton said, the
amount of defaulted loans at the University,
the largest lender in the state, was
"When I first got my loan, the student
was terrified. "I will go to college,
but the government doesn't pay it anymore."
Hamilton said a loan was considered defaulted when the installment was 120 days past due. A loan is delinquent until it's 120 days past due, he said.
Murphy said she had to start repaying the loan this summer. Because she doesn't have
Hamilton said the procedure for collecting delinquent loans called for a notice to be sent if the payment hadn't been received by the due date. He said another notice was sent if the payment was 30 days late. If the payment hasn't been made within two weeks of that notice, a collection agency is used to collect part or all of the installment, he said.
Hamilton said the increase in defaults had been caused by the fattering economy. He said that fewer jobs were available for college graduates. If a person is unemployed, he said, it is difficult for him to repay his loan.
D'Anne Murphy, a former Kansas State University student, is concerned about paying her bank loan. She said students were not given enough government stopped paying interest on bank loans.
Harber said she had never considered defaulting her loans or declaring bankruptcy. Her parents are helping her repay the loan, she said
a job that will allow her to meet the paymeny easily, she said she may return to school this
"When you start out in college, you think everything will be fine," she said. "You think it's just a matter of going through four years and then getting out and getting a good job to start paying your loans off. It just doesn't usually work out that way."
"I guess I’m too honest to default,"
she said. "I took out the loan in good faith so I had
She said she understood why some students defaulted loans or declared bankruptcy to escape repayment. If students are unable to find jobs, or if their parents won't help them pay off their loans, it can be a big problem, she said.
an obligation to pay it back. Besides, it's good credit when it's paid off."
Rick Roberts, Westwood junior, said he was more concerned with graduation than with repaying his loan. He said he had no plans of defaulting the loan.
He said he planned to set aside a certain amount of money in his budget to repay the loan until he completely paid for it. He said those plans were based on the hope that he would find a job immediately after graduation.
"I just hope I can find one," Roberts said, as she thought about what I'm going to do about rescuing it.
"The payback system is so simple that if you can't meet it you're really struggling," he said. "At 3 per cent interest, it's pretty cheap money."
Dougle Beeler, Beloit senior, said he owned the proxies and helped him anticipate on protocols requiring his participation.
Not all students feel this responsibility to pay back their loans. According to Hamilton, seven students declared bankruptcy in fiscal 2012 and eight students accounted for $10.02 in losses, he said.
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