This is why my wife is pushing him toward applying for rotational positions - to learn - she did one as an engineer and I did one in sales and marketing.
That said, one should always maximizing value if they can.
My main thrust was hitting the community up as it’s so knowledgeable when he was confused about the question.
Hopefully he goes and asks his career center.
From what I’ve read here and two PMs, it seems like the “published statistics” may be under reported - or since it includes all schools, that might include some lower paid jobs - in other words, $75K today might be underpaid - although that’s a hard concept for me to grasp 
He said one aero listing in MN showed a typical range of $74 - 83K in its job description. If they’re like my company - “under the mid point” - that would be $77-78K.
Thanks