Report: College Is Worth It, But How Worth It Depends On Your Major
WASHINGTON, DC (CBS) – Listen up, college students: While the job market is improving, your chances of finding employment after graduation largely depend on your major.
That's the takeaway from a new report from Georgetown University's Center on Education and the Workforce.
While the report found college is worth the cost in the post-recession economy for the majority of students, the size of a college grad's wage advantage over someone with only a high school education essentially depends on the college student's major. For example, engineering majors earn 158% more than high school graduates, but education majors earn just 31% more.
What's more, unemployment rates for recent college grads are the lowest for agriculture and natural resources majors, physical science majors and education majors. Meanwhile, arts and architecture majors have the highest unemployment rates.
And if you majored in arts, psychology or social work, you're set to earn an average yearly salary of $31,000 – just $1,000 more than the average worker with a high school education.
The report is the third in the Center's Hard Times to Better Times series, which looks an unemployment, earnings and college majors.
