Want to make a good living? Go to college. Just be careful what you major in.
On average, college graduates earn about $1 million more in their lifetimes than do adults who only completed high school. But long-term earnings prospects vary widely by subject, and the income differentials across certain majors dwarf those between graduates and non-graduates, according to a new report from Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce based on an analysis of Census Bureau data.
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Amy Lawson, a fifth-grade teacher at Silver Lake
Elementary School in Middletown, Del. in 2013, is
likely to earn less than someone who studied petroleum
engineering. Photo: Steve Ruark/AP
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For example, students who complete undergraduate degrees in petroleum engineering earn a median $4.8 million throughout their careers (or $136,000 a year)—more than triple the $1.4 million in median earnings (or $39,000 a year) for someone who majored in early-childhood education, the report says.
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| CLICK CHART to ENLARGE |
The findings, which include detailed analyses of earnings for graduates in 137 specific majors, add fuel to an already heated debate over the value of a college education amid skyrocketing student-loan debt and a still-tepid job market for fresh graduates.
Think tanks, states and the federal government have scrambled to fill the information void with a variety of tools to help families try to measure the return on their college investments. The Brookings Institution last week ranked schools based on their “value-added,” or the difference between mid-career salaries of alumni and estimated salaries of comparable students from other schools. The California Institute of Technology topped the list of four-year schools with the most value added in terms of mid-career earnings.Read the rest of the story HERE and view a related video below:
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