After caps are thrown and diplomas are handed out, college graduates will need to do one more thing before entering the workforce: take off their rose-colored glasses.
Rising graduates expect a starting salary of approximately $100,000, according to a recent study from ZipRecruiter, which surveyed around 3,000 young people in the U.S. But their annual take-home pay right out of undergrad ends up being closer to $68,000. About 42% of recent graduates reported that they couldn’t secure the pay they wanted, while 31% were able to negotiate for a higher salary than the one initially offered. And only 18% of new workers say their starting salary exceeded their expectations.
