5 College Degrees That Aren't Worth The Cost

[FarCenter]

If you’ve ever wanted to know the two main reasons why Americans decide not to go to college, the St. Louis Fed presented two convincing explanations. The more frightening of the two scenarios showed that, for students paying their own tuition, most will need a starting salary of $40,000 or better to overcome lifetime earnings of high school graduates.

How can it be that someone with a $40,000 starting salary can’t out-earn the average high school graduate? The reason is two-fold. Most college students forgo income while attending college. Also, given the average annual tuition of $25,000, a student paying his own way is facing a $100,000 college bill. Add the loss of income and the six-digit education tab, and graduates start their professional lives in a large financial hole.

If a starting salary of $40,000 is what it takes to overcome the high costs of going to college, you will want to know what degrees aren’t averaging the benchmark income. Georgetown pulled together statistics on average starting salary for many popular degrees. Below are five degrees with average starting salaries that may not be worth paying the costs for college.

Social Work

Elementary Teachers

Drama and Theater Arts

Family and Consumer Studies

Anthropology and Archaeology

http://www.businessinsider.com/5-college-degrees-that-arent-worth-the-cost-2012-6

[Fla_Democrat]

1. Just 5?

[quaker bill]

4. The calcs assume actual employment in the field

There are more biologists and environmental scientists selling shoes and waiting tables then there are employed in the field... I know, I used to interview them and occasionally would hire one. I could get 100+ apps for a single starting position all within driving distance, easy.

Run the calcs with actual employment outcomes and the number of degrees will get much bigger.

[FarCenter]

6. Consult "College Majors, Unemployment, and Earnings", from Georgetown University

It was the source of the data: http://www9.georgetown.edu/grad/gppi/hpi/cew/pdfs/Unemployment.Final.update1.pdf

[catrose]

26. Classical music is not on the list?

Even decades ago, when I was in school, a church organist couldn't hope to earn back the price of a degree (according to a professor). And orchestras don't pay any better than they used to. You had to teach and often hold yet another job to make a living wage. And orchestra players were paid better than the ballet, opera, and theatre.

[Inspired]

2. My daughter just graduated with a degree in Early Childhood Education

She's screwed.

[coalition_unwilling]

5. Maybe in this world and this culture. I've got a Master's in English

and, now in my early 50s, I feel like I'm screwed too.

[no_hypocrisy]

20. It was worse for me. Got a masters in Early Childhood Education.

And then I couldn't get hired because I was "overqualified", i.e., my masters made my salary at least $3,000 higher than a bachelor's degree.

[Liberal_in_LA]

25. I hope not. tell her not to give up.

[Blue_Tires]

3. I read this more as a proposal to RAISE the salaries of those fields...

[unblock]

7. that's if you believe there's no value to a theater degree beyond its income-earning effect

i suppose emt-training classes also aren't really worth it because emts don't rake in the benjamins while they're saving lives?

[MADem]

8. Well, if no one goes to school to be an elementary school teacher, I'll bet they'd become a hot

commodity sooner rather than later. I know that the average salary of a teacher in my state is much higher than forty grand, and I think they earn every penny of it, most of 'em.

[McCamy Taylor]

9. I think Bill Gates intends to sell "virtual teachers" once he drives them all away from the

profession.

[MADem]

29. Have you been to "Khan Academy?" It's pretty damned remarkable.

It started out as a guy helping his kid sister with her homework. It's turned the way some people teach on their head, where they learn the lesson via video as "homework," and do their "homework" in the class with a live teacher who can jump on them if he or she sees that the student isn't grasping the concept.

Go to YOUTUBE and check Mister Khan out--that guy is amazing. I think BG has a piece of him now.

[HockeyMom]

10. College in Florida just dropped their Computer Science Major

Don't need that either. Just go to India for that.

[McCamy Taylor]

12. Wait until the DOD starts outsourcing. No engineering jobs then, either.

[mythology]

14. If you're referring to the University of Florida

the plan was to merge the computer science department with the engineering department to save money, but those plans were later scrapped.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevensalzberg/2012/04/25/university-of-florida-announces-plan-to-save-computer-science-department/

[McCamy Taylor]

11. Got a Masters in Public Health---and realized that the only good jobs I could get

were the ones where I use my MD.

[HubertHeaver]

13. Consider Drama and Theater Arts to be pre-law

Family and Consumer Studies, advertising and marketing careers

Anthropology and Archeology, CSI

Philosophy and History, export classification would be a good fit

What skills do you learn and develop on your way to your degree? Use those skills to match your abilities to the job market.

[LiberalEsto]

15. Add newspaper journalism to the list of useless courses of study

The salaries were always lousy, but now there are so few jobs available, that people have to grovel for the privilege of working crazy hours making a salary just above minimum wage.

[RebelOne]

16. My daughter is a middle school English teacher

in South Florida. She was fortunate to get her education and earned her bachelors degree free since she worked for a college in Miami. She is now working toward her Master's degree. That won't cost her a lot also because she got a grant.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

17. I got a law degree, which is a doctorate, 25 years ago.

Couldn't get a job with it, ever. Nor with my Bachelor's degree in Biology, a hard science.

No degree will guarantee you a job. This country is anti-intellectual and does not want to employ educated people.

[Nevernose]

19. A juris doctorate is a master's degree

The nomenclature on that is screwy.

[ashling]

21. My J.D. took

93 semester hours (all graduate) My MA took 36 semester hours

a PhD roughly the same (beyond the Masters)

I went back for my MA in govt. after having practiced law for a good number of years. I had done more graduate work than many of my professors.

[Nevernose]

23. My wife and I both have MAs

After having been teachers for years, she's currently in law school. (me, I love teaching high school delinquents so much sometimes it hurts, and can't see myself quitting anytime soon.). Credit-wise the law school takes longer, but in terms of academic classes it's roughly the same. They get her with the clinic/externship hours. Still, it's a three year degree -- the same as a master's, and considered academically the same as a master's. There's a different, more advanced degree for people who want a PhD in lawyerizing and want to teach at the Unverisity level.

Both of my parents are PhD's and were, until recently, college professors -- my whole life has been spent with this crapola. And I promise you that my brother, a battlefield surgeon in Afghanistan, laughs off ALL of our degrees. His total post-secondary education was something like 14 years, just because he wanted to patch up bullet wounds.

I'm not a big fan, so far and from what I've seen secondarily, of law school professors.

[Sgent]

27. Not in academic departments I'm aware of

most treat it as a terminal degree (Ph.D., MD, DVM, DDS, etc.). It is slightly less schooling than most terminal degrees (3 instead of 4 years), but 2-3X as much as a masters.

Some schools look at an LLM as a completion for the JD -- although LLM's are often used for subspecialization or to bring up an otherwise average law school performance. Many places consider it similar to a fellowship.

[rainbow4321]

18. Theatre degree is a hit or miss

My daughter got a 4 yr theatre degree so she could pursue a stage manager career. She was fortunate enough to make alot of connections thru her profs while in school..basically knowing someone who knows someone. As soon as she graduated she got to tour with a national entertainment group that paid for travel/room/board, gave her per diem pay, and also a salary. So she earned/saved $10,000 over a 4 month period, allowing her to live in NYC and start building a resume by jumping from one gig to the next. She did the same thing the following year.
The theatre community really looks after their own..they remember the ones who they have worked with in the past and will call them up and ask them to come back for a job or refer them to other colleagues. She made a decent income while still in school by getting paid to work on university theatre jobs and local community productions. It has helped her alot to have a good work ethic..and patience
She has had a time where she has had to fall back on serving in a restaurant between jobs but for the most part has been able to build up her resume in the theatre field over the last 3 years.

[MADem]

30. I have a niece who is making a go of that, and a friend who is doing that in Hollywood.

The niece is a costumier, the friend does special effects. They are lucky, they're both doing OK. It is a hit-or-miss profession; I think doggedness and personality as well as old fashioned work ethic help, too.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

22. "A cynic is a man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing." Oscar Wilde

Unfortunately, in America, education is measured in dollars rather than value and treated as a commodity.

[Posteritatis]

24. Yep. (nt)

[Zorra]

31. +1

[Sgent]

28. Social Work

isn't bad if you go on to get a Masters. LCSW's are in high demand and usually make a good living.