Six years after the Great Recession of 2008, college graduates are finding full-time work, but the unemployment rate is still slightly lagging behind the national average.

According to the Huffington Post, the U.S. Education Department (ED) released its new study, "First Look at the Employment Experiences and Lives of College Graduates, 4 Years On," Tuesday. The ED surveyed 17,000 people who graduated college following the 2007-2008 academic year and tracked their employment status for the next four years.

Within four years, the unemployment rate for college graduates was estimated to be 6.7 percent, a few ticks higher than the national average of 6.1 percent. Data from the ED's study indicated that 85 percent of recent college graduates had one full-time job and eighth percent had more than one job.

In 2012, the Associated Press published a report based on an analysis of government data indicating 53 percent of recent college graduates were either unemployed or underemployed.

"About 1.5 million, or 53.6 percent, of bachelor's degree-holders under the age of 25 last year were jobless or underemployed, the highest share in at least 11 years," the AP reported. "In 2000, the share was at a low of 41 percent, before the dot-com bust erased job gains for college graduates in the telecommunications and IT fields.

"Out of the 1.5 million who languished in the job market, about half were underemployed, an increase from the previous year."

Though the ED's study paints a completely different picture, it was a central point of discussion in the 2012 presidential election. In one debate in particular, the HP previously reported, Mitt Romney brought up the AP's report.

The ED's report does not disprove the AP's because the new study did not determine if the graduate's job was in the field of their degree. It also did not determine how student loan debt affected potential wealth or the degree to which graduates relied on financial assistance from family members.