People go to college to get a head start in landing a career. What if only 50-percent of people who went to college got a job in the field they graduated in? Is it worth taking that chance and spending more than eighty-thousand dollars on something that might not even help with getting a job? A handful of recent Chaminade graduates discussed their current job situations and their feelings toward Chaminade.

Overall, only four of the nine people interviewed have a job related to their field. Kelson Ngo graduated in May 2016 with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice. It’s been about five months since then and he only has a part-time job at a local bakery. He’s been applying for the local police department and other federal jobs but said that he wasn’t even given a clue where to start after he graduated. He had to ether figure it out his own or ask for outside help.

“Chaminade didn’t really help me with the job finding process,” Ngo said. “My classmates and friends helped me out with how to find and apply for jobs within my major.” He also said that while his degree will help him, the element that will help him the most with getting a career is the connections he has within the groups that he’s applying for.

Another recent graduate, who preferred to remain anonymous, had graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business in May and already works for a well-known insurance company. When asked about what he thought helped him the most with getting his job, he responded, “The career development class I took in my last semester helped me a lot with the interview process,” he said. “That class taught me what to expect during the interview process and the best way to handle it.”

When asked if he believed it was worth going to college, he said that he wouldn’t have the job without his degree, but he also wouldn’t have the job without his family.

As for the rest of the recent graduates they all had similar stories. They almost all had to find outside help. One thought that everyone agreed on is that even if Chaminade University itself didn’t help them jumpstart their careers, the fact that they have a degree from a reputable school at least puts them on the radar of companies looking to hire long-term employees.

Does Chaminade prepare you for the real world? It’s hard to tell. While the school won’t find students a job, it will give them that little piece of paper that tells companies they’ve graduated and know the basics of what they’ve have studied. Universities don’t hold their students’ hands. They treat them like adults and give them the tools to succeed in life. It’s still up to the student to use those tools to get where they want to go