The chance of landing a job straight out of College is looking up this year.

At least, compared to five years ago, when half of college graduates were jobless or underemployed.

Job listing website CollegeGrad’s new survey of more than 400 employers across the country shows 2017 has the highest amount of entry-level Hiring since 2012, when the website’s survey began. But they say it’s even bigger than that.

“We have reached the highest level of entry-level hiring in this millennium,” CollegeGrad CEO Brian Krueger says. “The increases in hiring are well above the record number of hires set last year. We have seen quite a few employers that are literally doubling their entry level hiring in 2017.”

The website’s Top Entry Employers list shows more than 135,000 entry-level jobs, reflecting an improving economy.

“Entry-level hiring tends to be highly cyclical with the economy,” Krueger said. “When the economy is up, entry-level hiring is way up, as it has been for the past three years.”

Earning a college degree will increase your employment opportunities over time. Given the 8.5 percent hiring increase this year, it’s no wonder why 73 percent of Americans believe college is important and 62 percent believe it should be free.

Unfortunately, college isn’t free — it’s still quite expensive. But here are a few lessons to be learned from college grads on how to pay for it without maxing out student loans…

• Know how you will pay for it, and save as soon as possible
• Avoid for-profit colleges, but consider a trade school for a specific profession
• Base your major on what you want to do and what’s going to pay your bills, not just what you think is fun. Those are called electives.