A few years ago, I was horrified that a young lady had gone to an Ivy League school, a very expensive school, simply to get an early childhood education degree (think: daycare teacher). She was in tears (in the article, that is) over the fact that the money she could earn with that very expensive B.A. degree couldn’t pay enough to live on AND pay her college debt (at the time, hourly wage was about $9.50 for a starting position). Moral of the story: unless you are financially independent, you need to understand the economics of your degree (as opposed to “any learning is worth the cost” mentality of recruiters / financial aid planners). Salary.com has the worst degrees in this regard:
8) Sociology
7) Fine Arts
6) Education (Daycare, Elementary, High School)
5) Religious Studies / Theology (Religious Educator, Chaplin – Healthcare, Associate Pastor)
4) Hospitality / Tourism (Meeting/Event Planner, Hotel Resident Manager, Catering Manager)
3) Nutrician (Dietician, Food Service Manager, Food Scientist)
2) Psychology (Human Services Worker, Career Counselor – Higher Education, Bereavement Coordinator)
1) Communications (Copywriter, News Reporter, Marketing Coordinator)
They have commentary on each – go read them and how they figured what for which (including annual salary average and lifetime earnings).
