College Majors Are Not Created Equal

New data shows that it still pays to get a college degree— depending on your major. While it’s generally true that higher education pays off, it’s by no means a guarantee. You’ve got to plan ahead to make sure your degree jumpstarts a successful career. High school students have been told for decades that if you want a better paying job, go to college and many young adults have done that, no doubt some with the belief that all college majors are created equal. They are not__.__ Going to college is a financial decision, second only to buying a house. More specifically, it’s an investment decision. Will it pay off? Perhaps the most important factor determining that is whether you graduate with a degree. Fail to do that and any money you spend or borrow for college will likely be money down the drain in terms of future earnings. The good news is that data just released by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York shows that earning a college degree is still financially worthwhile, generally speaking*.* The data shows that recent college grads working full time earn about $25,000 a year more than those with only a high school diploma. The catch is, they have to be working. That means students must earn degrees in majors that give them skills that managers want. Another study by the American Educational Research Journal shows that engineering and computer science degrees give the highest rate of return on dollars spent for education. They’re followed by business, health, math, and science majors. So for example, those with a bachelor degree in engineering can expect to start out at around $80,000 a year and significantly higher with a master’s degree. The highest paid engineers working on aircraft, satellites, bridges and other infrastructure can earn several hundred thousand dollars a year. One catch, though, you have to be really good at math.

Meanwhile, computer systems managers make, on average, a bit over $140,000, but can earn significantly more than that depending on the level of complexity and responsibility with the job.

The study also showed that education, humanities and arts majors ranked the lowest in return on investment. We’re not telling you to avoid those fields if that’s where your passion lies, but college is expensive and it’s important to know the earning potential of any major you’re considering, especially if you’re borrowing to attend college. U.S. Census Bureau data shows a median salary of around $53,000 for degrees in Family and Consumer Services and Fine Arts and $55,000 for degrees in Elementary Education and Social work. Obviously, if that’s where you’re headed, you’ll need to watch your expenses like a hawk, and borrow as little as possible. Consider that according to the National Education Association, teachers with student loan debt owe an average of $56,000. Take that with a grain of salt because the NEA exists to advocate for higher teacher salaries, but if that figure is accurate, it shows the difficulty many teachers have in paying back their student loans if their debt is equal to a year’s salary! Since college is a financial investment, it’s important to consider how long it will take to pay back student loans on the salary you can expect with your chosen major. Obviously, the less you borrow, the faster that will be. Also, the higher the salary, the faster you’ll get out of the red and into the black. Perhaps the ultimate example of that is the emergency room physician. That person will leave medical school with an average of $215,000 in student loan debt, according to the Education Data Initiative. That sounds like an awful lot, and it is, but consider that the median salary of an emergency room physician is now $350,000 a year, making a faster payoff possible.

Again, if you feel becoming a teacher or social worker is your Godly calling (and we certainly need them), by all means pursue that goal. Just do everything you can to minimize your student loan debt. That’s good advice regardless of the major you choose.

Proverbs 22:7 has just 15 words that you need to memorize: “The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender.” In sum, take as many Advanced Placement classes as possible. Get a part time job in high school and college and put your earnings toward tuition, but perhaps the most productive use of your time will be applying for scholarships.

Set up a scholarship application assembly line and apply for dozens of them. It can really pay off, but it takes time and effort.

The greatest graduate gift you could ever give yourself is to earn your degree with little or no debt. That way, you’ll hit the ground running when you take on the world as a new grad. You can also listen to the related podcast on this topic.