It is misleadng because not all universities ofer the same programs
Some universities lead toward engineering others may focus more on liberal arts. Obviously the universities with which lead toward higher earning degrees with have a higher average salary as a whole.
And MOST football players do not major in these "high paying programs" anyway. Take for example Ga Tech, a, engineering focused institution. 70% of their football players major in Management. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/wire?section=ncf&id=6932700
Graduating from a degree in Computer Engineering Stanford is looked at way different (and payed different) than someone graduating with Liberal Arts or Mass Com. In fact some of the "lesser" degree programs of research institutions, even Ivy League schools, may be perceived lower than instate public universities.
Another issue us that most "standard" university students are local, and tend to stay local after graduation. Example, most USF, UF, UCF, etc students are from Florida, and tend to stay in Florida after graduation. How this misleads is that the average salary of students in high CoL areas will of course be higher than those in low CoL, even though the purchase power of of the 2 different salaries can be the same.
Here's a comparable list of where they obtain their numbers: http://www.payscale.com/college-salary-report-2013/full-list-of-schools
You can sort by ranking, region, etc.
For example, take a look at the rankings of USF #516 ($39,700), UCF #546 ($39,500) in low CoL Florida.
Compare to Sonoma State University.. a small commuter public liberal arts university 50 miles north of San Fransisco California (higher CoL) with an acceptance rate of 90.2%(!!!) is ranked at that list at 417 ($44,200)
Salary means nothing if you don't factor in cost of living.
/rant
..People who obviously and purposely use misleading stats annoy me at times.
I wont get anymore into that topic or else it may/will devolve into MadCow-ness
Good point. It also says 15 years after graduation, so not a study on starting salaries. So we are essentially talking about salaries of 37/38 year olds?