The data come from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2009 American Community Survey and consider full-time, full-year workers ages 25 to 64 whose highest degree is a bachelor’s.
If you are majoring in the arts, education, or social work, it's not very cost-productive to rack up college loans. At all.
If you are majoring in engineering, it probably is, but even then, you need to exercise care and caution and assess your personal skills accurately.
As you might expect, some of the tastiest salaries come from the toughest subjects. Petroleum engineering majors earn $120,000. Brown jobs really do rule. Ecology majors on the other hand get a little more than one third of that: $44,000. And remember: that isn’t a starting salary; it’s the median income for all the people in the field up to age 65. Stuffing envelopes for Greenpeace does not often lead to great things.Something else to think about in the comments at this link, basically, you're probably not as wonderful and remarkable as you think you are, so take that into account, too:
For math and computer science degrees, you are looking at $98,000. “Counseling psychology” majors earn $29,000; community organizing majors do somewhat better (though they trail ecologists) at $38,000.
The humanities offer some surprises — and from my point of view, pleasant ones. US History majors do quite well: $57,000. General history, art history and criticism majors do almost as well at $50,000. Majors in “intercultural and international studies” do worse at $44,ooo; even Latin majors do better than that.
Obviously a chart like this doesn’t predict how any particular individual is going to do later in life. But this is the kind of chart parents should be talking about with their high school and college age kids.
The chart or more specific information as to starting salaries, mid-career and late career salaries are all useful information. It is also useful to view the potential of advanced degrees in combination with undergraduate majors. However, it is essential to view this economic data in concert with a young persons aptitude, knowledge and interests. Unfortunately, most recent graduates have only the haziest idea of any of these relevant factors. They have typically been told how wonderful they are, and rewarded for minimal effort. Gaining an engineering, scientific or mathematical degree from a good school is beyond the capacity or interest of a high percentage of high school graduates. Introducing a realistic sense of potential and a close examination of interests is vital in making good choices of schools and majors.
More good stuff here.
And, of course, we've talked before about the cost/benefit analysis of a college education.
I have one of the top degrees (chemical engineering) but in reality make only a little over half the median.
ReplyDeleteI wish all kids would really look at something like this before choosing a major or at least before taking out student loans for that major. I'm a software enginner, and even at 30 hours a week, am near the top of that chart. I typed more, but was close to ranting rather than commenting :), but just wish everyone would understand the relationship between your degree and your income. I didn't choose my field for money, but for aptitude, and I was really just lucky that it turned out to be well-paying, because I didn't even think about that when I was choosing. We have tried really hard to point this out to our kids. If you want to be a social worker or a teacher, and that's your dream or what you have aptitude for, then do it! No-one should be discouraged from that. Just don't take out 100K in student loans to do it.
ReplyDeleteSheila, yes, *exactly.* Information like this should be used to inform the ways and means you use to fund college, and to inform you decision on whether or not you even want to go to college, and even how long you attend. If you're heading toward a 100K a year job right out of college, then it makes sense to take loans to finish faster. If you're looking at 24K a year no matter what, it makes more sense to skip the loans and take a year off college to work, or go to school part time while working and take a little longer at school.
ReplyDeleteI am surprised the salaries for social workers are listed as so low. I'm the director of social work at a small community hospital in a rural area, and I make $65K. Not a fortune, to be sure, but certainly respectable, and I have only been out of my master's program 6 years. And I took out $30K in loans to get my degree, but the monthly repayment isn't so burdensome. People really love to dump on social workers, but we're not actually THAT underpaid, as a whole.
ReplyDelete