Cooperative Education

Information for Employers

• Submit a Job Description
• Welcome
• How to Start a Co-op Program
• Suggested Salaries
• Start/End Dates
• CCIS Academic Information
• Employment Guidelines/Handbook and Tax Information
• History of CCIS Co-op

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Welcome!

If you're an employer interested in employing College of Computer and Information Science (CCIS) students, this is the place to start.

Cooperative education ("co-op") has many benefits for employers, as CCIS has discovered over the last fifty years. By hiring only two students, you get the equivalent of a full-time year-round employee, for substantially less than it would cost to hire a degreed professional. You get intelligent, motivated students from the most academically challenging program at Northeastern, who are eager to work and learn. Co-op can also serve as an excellent recruiting tool by allowing you to "test-drive" potential permanent employees with no long-term commitment. Through co-op, you get the chance to lure the best and the brightest into your company, before the competition can.

Visit co-op overview page to learn more about how co-op works.

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How to Start a Co-op Program

STEP 1: Read the rules

Co-op employees are considered to be full-time students while they are on co-op, and this means that in some cases their employment and tax status must be different from that of your permanent employees. For example, students cannot be hired as "independent contractors"/consultants (Form 1099). For more details, please read the Employment Guidelines/Handbook and Tax Information provided by the Cooperative Education Program.

STEP 2: Submit a Job Description

Use our online form to submit a job description. There is no deadline for submitting a job description, but it's best to submit a description two or three months before you need the student to start. This ensures that your resume will be in the database in time for the best and brightest of our students to review your job listing, and decide whether they want their resume sent to you.

STEP 3: Contact Students

Once you've submitted a job description, the hiring process should work exactly as it does for any other job at your company. We'll send you resumes. Look over them, decide which ones you like, and then contact the students directly to arrange interviews. NOTE: For best results, do this quickly! Make hire/salary offers to the ones you like. If they accept, hire them. That's it! The more experienced students tend to get multiple job offers, so we urge you to make your offers competitive with market rates (see suggested salaries below). There is no need to notify the CCIS co-op faculty of any stage of this process, although we do ask that you let us know if students perform exceptionally well, or unprofessionally, during the job search.

STEP 4: Train and Employ Students

Students are your employees, exclusively, during the co-op period. They are full-time workers, although temporary, so please treat them as you would any other full-time staff. Students should not be taking classes during co-op unless you have given them permission to do so.

A tip for keeping your co-op students happy and long-term: give them new experiences/skills. As long as students are learning new things and being challenged, they are more likely to want to return to your company for subsequent co-op periods, or permanently after graduation.

NOTE: Contact the CCIS Co-op Team if you have problems with your co-op students. Unless you have offered the student a contract that says otherwise, co-op employment is assumed to be at-will. Because co-op is a learning experience, however, we ask that you use us as mediators between you and the student in the event of problems on the job. We can discuss problems, negotiate agreements, and we'll even pay a visit to your work site if you think that will help. Our goal is to achieve a satisfactory working relationship between you and the student.

STEP 5: Evaluate Students

Near the end of the co-op period, the student will ask the job supervisor to evaluate his/her performance. This can be done online using our web form, or you may use whatever performance review process your company already has in place. Co-op students receive a pass/fail grade for their experience, which is largely based on your evaluation of their performance.

At this time, you should also discuss future plans for employment with the student. They are obligated to work for at least six months with you (as long as you want them back), which means that in some cases they will expect to return to your company for their next co-op period. After that they may consider other companies, and they should notify you if they're thinking of leaving.

That's it!

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Suggested Salaries

Salaries are dependent on the market, the student's level of skill and experience, and the type of position/company. The Department of Cooperative Education surveys students each year to determine average salaries. Students in "technical" degree programs such as CS/IS on average earn more than students in liberal arts majors. According to the latest department survey, the average CCIS co-op salary for undergraduate students was $16.86/hour.

The CCIS Co-op Faculty recommends that employers who wish to use co-op as a long-term recruiting tool should structure salaries as a percentage of the average starting salary of a newly-hired recent graduate (see below). The average starting salary for a new CS/IS graduate from Northeastern was $55,000, according to a survey of the graduating Class of 2007. This is only a guide, however. Market fluctuations, as well as the student's experience and ability, dictate the actual salary offer.

Notes:

* All co-op periods for undergraduates last six months. The slight gaps between co-op periods are designed to allow students who live on-campus to move in/out of campus housing; discuss this with the student to determine whether he/she is able to work during that time.

** All co-op periods for graduate students can last up to eight months because graduate students do not normally take classes during Summer 1 and Summer 2. Graduate students must return to classes at the end of that time. Note: Very few graduate students are available during Jan - August time periods.

If you have a position which starts in the middle of any co-op period (for example, a "Fall only" job), we may not have any available students left at that point, but please contact us anyway. We can help you explore alternatives that may suit your need.

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CCIS Academic Information

The College of Computer and Information Science offers the following undergraduate programs:

• Bachelor of Science in Computer Science
• Bachelor of Arts in Computer Science
• Bachelor of Science in Information Science
• Dual Majors: Bachelor of Science in Computer Science with Math, Cognitive Psychology, and Physics
• Dual Majors: Bachelors of Science in CS & IS, CS/IS & Business, IS & Cognitive Psychology, CS & Biology, CS & Multimedia Studies, and CS & Music Technology

The B.S. in Computer Science is the largest of the undergraduate CCIS programs, with about 60% of our students. Students in this program graduate with the technical savvy needed to design and develop the systems and software that forms the foundation of the high tech industry. The B.A. in Computer Science is similar in focus to the B.S., but is designed for students who want to be a bit more "well-rounded" than the traditional "techie." The B.S. in Information Science is a new program, developed in response to the industry demand for technically savvy professionals who are equally proficient in business and "people" skills. The Dual Majors are designed for exceptional students who wish to specialize in one of the growing subareas of the computer science field (e.g., artificial intelligence).

For more detailed descriptions, please visit the CCIS undergraduate program guide.

CCIS also offers the following graduate degrees:

• Ph.D. in Computer Science (Students in this program rarely go on co-op.)
• Master of Science in Computer Science (Students in this program are usually available May - December or January - August.)
• Certificate in Information Resources Management (Students in this program are not eligible for co-op.)

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History of CCIS Co-op

Northeastern University has been offering educational opportunities to aspiring computer professionals for more than 47 years, starting in the late 1950s.

Late 1950's The Department of Electrical Engineering and the Department of Industrial Engineering/Information systems begins offering computer courses.

1970 The Department of Electrical Engineering initiates a computer engineering option. Graduate School of the College of Engineering begins a major in computer science.

1975 College of Engineering initiates an undergraduate program in computer science.

1977 Department of Mathematics offers a concentration in computer science for mathematics majors.

1978 Department of Mathematics introduces a graduate-level computer science program.

1980 Electrical Engineering, Industrial Engineering/Information Systems and Mathematics Departments combine their undergraduate computer science programs.

1982 On July 1, the College of Computer Science is established to grant the Bachelor of Science in Computer Science.

1984 The Graduate School of Computer Science is established to grant the Master of Science in Computer Science.

1987 The Graduate School of Computer Science establishes the Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science Program.

1988 The college receives its second accreditation by the Computer Science Accreditation Board of the Computer Science Accreditation Commission.

1999 The College of Computer Science establishes the Bachelor of Science in Information Science Program.

2002 To reflect the expansion of our majors into the information science field, the college changes its name to "College of Computer and Information Science".

Today... The College of Computer and Information Science continues to serves as the focal point for all computer-related programs at Northeastern University.

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