The impact of 40,000+ degrees

Purdue University Calumet surpassed a milestone during its May 18 Commencement Exercises. The nearly 700 students who earned master’s, baccalaureate and associate degrees this spring moved our campus past the 40,000 mark in total degrees awarded to our graduates.

While it is difficult to place a price tag on the monetary value of those degrees, we do know that in today’s market, a traditional age, baccalaureate degree-educated individual can expect to earn up to $1 million more during his/her working lifetime than a non-degreed peer.

Communities, regions and states also benefit in wide ranging ways from a higher educated citizenry. During a time when public universities nationally express growing concern about “brain drain”—the departure of graduates from their home state for opportunities elsewhere—we are proud that more than 61 percent of Purdue Calumet alumni have remained in northwest Indiana to apply their degrees and all the knowledge, energy, enthusiasm and determination that go with being a Purdue graduate.

What’s more, our full tuition Chancellor’s Scholar Awards (for high school valedictorians and salutatorians); Best & Brightest Scholarships (for those entering Purdue Calumet with at least a “B” average); honors program; and more stringent, self-imposed admission standards are attracting a growing number of high quality students intent on earning a Purdue degree at Purdue Calumet.

All the while, Purdue Calumet continues to be a university of great appeal to students who are the first in their family to pursue a university degree. Nearly two-thirds of our enrollees represent that important group.

We celebrate having awarded 40,000+ degrees since our first campus graduation in 1967. More importantly, we celebrate what those degrees have meant to those who have earned them and others who have benefitted from them within the greater northwest Indiana area.

Sincerely,

Howard Cohen,
Chancellor