Communications graduates are facing the most significant decline in salary out of all the bachelor's degree majors. The average starting salary fell to $28,388.

NACE has found that internship experience and cooperative education programs are important for graduates. "It will help you be more focused in what you want to do," said Robert Martin, Penn State coordinator of student programs.

Martin said internships are important for communications students.

"You have to set yourself apart. You have to have the related experience that makes you a qualified candidate," Martin said.

Farrah Farnese (freshman-public relations) said she plans to use the help offered by career services when she begins her internship search and explained why she thought internships were so valuable. "You get contacts for after you graduate. You find out what you'll be doing," Farnese said.

Martin and Jack Rayman, Penn State Career Services director, agreed that students should get involved with internships early in their career at Penn State. "The earlier you start to exercise your responsibility, the more choices you will have," Rayman said.

Of all of the business majors, graduates majoring in business administration have seen the largest increase in average salary offers.

Sam Zehr (freshman-business administration) said he is going to look into internship opportunities and plans to go to graduate school at the University of Pennsylvania.

Andrea Carr, NACE employment information manager, said according to NACE's Job Outlook Survey last fall, service, manufacturing and government non-profit employers are looking for business administration graduates.

Computer science and information sciences graduates' job offers saw their first salary increase in 2001, and their salary offers are continuing to climb. Information sciences and systems graduates' salary offers increased to $44, 075.

"We have seen an increase of job offers from a variety of organizations. Our [IST] students on average are making $54,000, which is about 25 percent higher than NACE is reporting in [its] report," said Shaun Knight, Penn State coordinator of professional placement services for the School of Information Sciences and Technology.

Salary offers remained steady for engineering majors. Electrical and mechanical engineers saw a small increase in salary offers, while the salaries for both chemical engineering students and computer engineering graduates decreased slightly.

"Engineering is one of those fields where there's always demand for it. Their salaries pretty much remain level," Carr said.

Jennifer Hicks, Penn State engineering cooperative education and internship program associate director, said internship experience helps engineering graduates find employment.

"If [engineering graduates] have documented career-related experience, they get two to three more full-time interviews," Hicks said. "They get one to two more job offers for full-time employment."

NACE reported that job opportunities remain limited for liberal arts graduates, and their salary offers decreased slightly.

Christine Hughes, liberal arts undergraduate studies senior adviser, said NACE's findings were also true for Penn State liberal arts graduates.

"I think that the most proactive and involved liberal arts students end up on the higher end of that scale," she said.