The Most Profitable 4-Year College Degrees
Ever wonder what the payoff for your college education will be? Well, according to conventional wisdom, the payoff depends on your major. Liberal arts graduates are often stereotyped as being condemned to work in low-paid positions, while business majors are expected to succeed. And, unfortunately for you Sanskrit majors, there appears to be some truth to these assumptions. Read more to learn about the best-paying bachelor’s degree programs for 2009.
Which College Degrees Pay Off Financially?
So, you’re 20 years old, a sophomore in college, and you’re starting to get pressure from your family to choose a major. You could study Icelandic folk art, or you could major in something that might actually earn you some money. Here’s a list of the best-paying majors out there:
Best-Paying Bachelor’s Degrees
| Degree | Average Annual Starting Salary |
|---|---|
| Chemical Engineering | $59,707 |
| Computer Engineering | $55,946 |
| Electrical Engineering | $54,915 |
| Mechanical Engineering | $54,695 |
| Computer Science | $52,177 |
| Accounting | $47,421 |
| Finance | $47,877 |
| Civil Engineering | $47,750 |
| Business Administration | $44,048 |
| Marketing | $41,285 |
| Liberal Arts | $31,333 |
Source: National Association of Colleges and Employers, naceweb.org.
As you can see, engineers are primed to earn the biggest bucks right out of college. The highest-paid engineering specialists are chemical engineers, with an average starting salary of $59,707 per annum. And this is just a starting salary–workers in any field stand to make much more after gaining a few years’ experience.
You’ll also see that, right after graduation, liberal arts graduates earn almost $10,000 less per year than graduates of the next lowest-paid major, marketing. The implication? If you’ve always wanted to be a starving artist, your dream can be easily realized…by majoring in art.
But what if you’ve got some experience? Do the salaries of the top-earning engineers still beat those of the top-earning writers or editors? In a word, yes, but there are some surprises. Check out the top 10 percent of salaries in professions related to the majors above.
| Profession | Annual 90th Percentile Salary |
|---|---|
| Computer Science | $132,700 |
| Computer Engineering | $123,560 |
| Financial Management | $118,976 |
| Chemical Engineering | $115,180 |
| Advertising Management | $113,758 |
| Electrical Engineering | $108,070 |
| Marketing Management | $102,081 |
| Mechanical Engineering | $97,850 |
| Civil Engineering | $94,660 |
| Accounting | $88,610 |
| Editing | $80,020 |
Sources: Bureau of Labor Statistics, bls.gov; Salary.com.
Looking at the table, you’ll see that some of the disciplines have switched places. Mechanical engineering, one of the top-paying industries for recent grads, drops from 4th to 8th place, while computer science jumps to 1st place.
Another interesting point: the liberal arts folks actually gain a little ground on everyone else as time goes on. Whereas new chemical engineering graduates earn nearly twice as much as new liberal arts grads, the top computer scientists only make about half again as much as the top editors. What does this mean? Maybe, despite all the gloomy news, studying what you want doesn’t always doom you to poverty.