COOKEVILLE, Tenn. (Aug. 10, 2009) — Tennessee Tech University is one of the nation’s top public universities, and the top in Tennessee, when it comes to the potential salary graduates can earn when they hit the job market.

That ranking was made public recently by Payscale.com, a company that owns the largest online employee salary database in the world and specializes in compensation data.
According to Payscale.com, the starting median salary for a Tennessee Tech graduate is $44,500. After 15 years of experience, the median salary is $79,900, as reported by TTU graduates.

The report also names Tennessee Tech’s College of Engineering as one of the nation’s “Best Engineering Colleges” based on salary potential for graduates. Also, professional mechanical engineering graduates named Tennessee Tech as one of the Top 20 most popular mechanical engineering schools in the country.

TTU offers nine of Payscale.com’s Top 10 College Majors that Lead to High Salaries: chemical engineering, computer engineering, electrical engineering, economics, physics, mechanical engineering, computer science, industrial engineering and environmental engineering. Topping the list is chemical engineering, where the starting median salary is $65,700 and the mid-career median is $107,000.

Tennessee Tech is known as Tennessee’s technological university, but houses six strong academic divisions offering 44 bachelor’s degrees and 20 graduate programs -- the College of Agricultural and Human Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences, College of Business, College of Education, College of Engineering, and the School of Interdisciplinary Studies and Extended Education.

Payscale.com issues an annual College Salary Report that focuses on the country’s most lucrative majors to help students maximize their potential for getting the best monetary return on their college investment.

--Karen Lykins
This information posted 10 August 2009