Colleges held responsible

If you’re not happy with the results of your investment in clothing, electronic equipment or… If you’re not happy with the results of your investment in clothing, electronic equipment or undercooked meat, you can usually hope for a refund.

If you’re not happy with the result of your investment in a college education, you’re probably out of luck.

While there’s still no satisfaction guarantee for college students, Congress recently enacted the Higher Education Act, which has been dormant since 1965, to hold universities accountable for their graduates’ success.

By publishing testing scores and encouraging parents to notice increasing university tuitions, the Act seeks to embarrass the schools with facts, as there is not yet any legal or monetary punishment.

“This is all very new,” Barbara Mellix, the assistant dean and director of the College of Arts and Sciences, said of the Higher Education Act. Mellix added that more networking programs and graduate services will allow for students to be “ready upon graduation with careers to pursue,” though she does not believe the new programs are directly related to the Act.

Pitt’s new resources include networking systems and more personal interaction – especially with students advising students.

“Alumnet,” a computerized networking program recently improved by developers at Yale University, serves as a line of contact between students and 500 fellow alumni. The program will be accessible through the Pitt Placement Office.

There are 90,000 alumni in Western Pennsylvania and 200,000 worldwide, according to Leland Patouillet, executive director of the Alumni Association.

In addition to the improved networking, which Patouillet considers “most important” in job searching, he called attention to “Graduation Central,” a program that originated two years ago to organize graduating students picking up their caps and gowns. Students can also sign up for an online directory for alumni, exchange business cards and obtain information about short-term medical insurance there.

Anthony Dicicco, 27, graduated from Pitt last December with a B.A. in economics. “I spent literally hundreds of hours, even days,” Dicicco said of the job search. His search began the August before graduation and included visits to career services

“But they weren’t much help at all,” said Dicicco, who received career counseling from them at least twice. “They didn’t know of any companies outside of the area.”

Local employment, said Dicicco, was not available.

“Going through Pitt just didn’t help,” Dicicco said, adding that he found his current job, working in currency exchange for a boutique firm in Monterey Park, through family friends.

Not all Pitt graduates spend months looking for work. Joan Snyder, who served as Student Government Board President in January 2000, began her job as a neuroscience sales representative with Eli Lily within two weeks of graduating from Pitt with a degree in marketing the spring of 2001. Like Dicicco, Snyder said she put “a lot of hard work” in finding a job, but Snyder came away from the experience with a different opinion of Career Services and the Alumni Association

“They are great services.” Snyder said, adding that she had to do her own networking research. “They aren’t going to baby you – you have to go out and do it yourself.”

Snyder said she utilized counseling sessions and job training sessions through Career Services, but relied heavily on direct networking with potential employers by repeatedly making phone calls, e-mailing and eventually flying to at least 30 interviews in cities from Atlanta to Boston.According to the “Class of 2003 Preliminary Grad Report,” compiled by Career Services representatives surveying students at Graduation Central, 50 percent of the 349 students who responded reported obtaining post-graduation employment, with an average overall yearly salary of $41,259.Although nobody in Career Services knew how many graduates used their services before graduation, Barbara Juliussen, director of Career Services, reported there were more than 3,000 hour-long student appointments and 1,880 walk-in appointments this year.For those who have yet to graduate, Pitt began a peer advising program last September, where students trained by Career Services help fellow undergraduates through the registration process and inform students of available services.For students interested in working as engineers before they graduate, the Cooperative Education office, in B80 Benedum Hall, organizes a program for students to spend a semester working with professionals, followed by a second semester of school. According to Maureen Barcic, director of Cooperative Education, about half of Pitt’s engineering student body, or between 500 and 600 students, participate.The experience provides an opportunity for students to explore their intended careers before they make a complete commitment.Melissa Roos, who graduated in 1993 with a B.A. in biology, thought it would be easy to find a job. Instead, she said she found she could work at a lab and earn about $13,000 a year.Roos originally hoped to study pre-veterinary medicine, but after interning at a clinic, she discovered she hated it. Roos currently works as a manager at Pet Supplies Plus in Bridgeville.”I really don’t use any biology for it,” she said, adding that if she could do it over again, she probably wouldn’t have gone after a biology degree.”But Mellix is hopeful that, by offering more opportunities for students to work and communicate with professionals, more graduates will find well-paying, satisfying jobs.”Before the institution wasn’t interested,” she said of finding partnerships for students. “The transition from college to a job really hits you in the face.”