Is your major a lucrative one?
February 14, 2012
Increasing one's earning potential is one of the main reasons many mothers decide to pursue a college degree. After all, data show that those with a college education make considerably more than those without one.
According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), in 2009, the average salary for adults aged 25 to 34 with a bachelor's degree was $15,000 more per year than for those with a high school diploma or other equivalent degree.
Making the commitment to go to college is a big one, especially for individuals with a family. Even though many are eligible to receive grants for parents, scholarships for mothers or other financial aid, many want to make sure that their investment of time and money will pay off in the end.
A new study conducted by researchers at Georgetown University's Center for Education and the Workforce has found that a college degree remains a valuable commodity.
In fact, it found that the unemployment rate for recent bachelor's degree graduates stands at about 8.9 percent. That's compared to a jobless rate of 22.9 percent for those with only a high school diploma and 31.5 percent for those without a high school education.
Still, while getting a bachelor's degree may help improve your job prospects, certain majors tend to enjoy larger salaries.
"What you make depends on what you take," Anthony Carnevale, lead author of the study titled Hard Times: College Majors, Unemployment and Earnings: Not All Degrees Are Created Equal told the San Diego Union Tribune. "If you have a degree in petroleum engineering, you'll make over $100,000. And if you get a degree in counseling, you'll make $30,000. It's fine to go and learn about Shakespeare, but Shakespeare didn't do it for the money. And you won't be, either."
The study looked at average earnings for degree holders in more than 15 fields in their first four years out of college.
It found that engineering majors made highest average salary directly out of college ($55,000 per year). Other high-paying majors for those just out of college include computer and mathematics majors ($46,000 per year) and healthcare majors ($43,000 per year).
Majors that were associated with lower-paying jobs included psychology, social work, recreation and arts majors ($30,000 per year) as well as humanities and liberal arts majors ($31,000 per year).
Whether or not earning potential matters is something that should be evaluated by each individual student.
However, many say that it's important to enjoy what you're doing, rather than just enjoying the salary you make doing it.
"When I chose my major, I really didn’t think much about how much I'd make in the future," Ann-Marie Auger-Andrews, a 21-year-old student at the University of San Diego who is pursuing a degree in communications, told the Union Tribune. "I chose it because it's what I enjoy doing."
