The Impact of Cooperative Education on Academic Performance and Compensation of Engineering Majors

Abstract

Abstract Several engineering programs around the country either require or encourage a cooperative education experience as part of their curriculum. In this paper, we examine the effects of cooperative education on grade point average, length of time in school, and starting salary. Statistical analyses show that cooperative education programs have significant effects on all three dimensions. These results are useful not only to students deciding whether to participate in cooperative education programs, but also to administrators in determining the role of cooperative education in the engineering curriculum.