Kalamazoo College graduation

A new study of post-graduation earnings found the gap in earnings between men and women begins within the first year following college.

(James Buck / MLive)

LANSING -- The gap in earnings between men and women opens immediately after college, a new study by the American Association of University Women found after examining salaries 12 months after graduation.

On average, women earned 82 percent of the salary men earned one year after graduation, based on data from the U.S. Department of Education, the study states. Male graduates were making an average salary of $42,918 at one year post-graduation, while women earned, on average, $35,296.

The gap was narrower when looking at public university graduates, with women earning about 86 percent. But the gap was significantly wider for graduates of private non-profit universities.

When researchers looked at data based on college majors, earnings were virtually equal for graduates in education, health care fields, sciences and humanities. But large gaps existed in business, engineering and computer science.

The report also highlights the burden the difference in earning can have on student loan repayment for women.

Women are more likely to borrow to attend school than men, the study found, and women are more likely to earn a bachelor's degree than men.

"Because of these factors, high student loan debt burden is a particularly widespread problem among women," authors Christianne Corbett and Catherine Hill wrote.

"The pay gap has implications from the moment college graduates throw their caps in the air. More than half of women working full time and repaying their college loans one year after college graduation are paying a higher percentage of their earnings to student loan debt than a typical woman can reasonably afford."

The report recommends improving awareness of income-based repayment for student loans, expanding Pell Grant access and improving pay scale transparency for employers as ways to address the gap in earnings.

Brian Smith is the statewide education and courts reporter for MLive. Email him at bsmith11@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter or Facebook.