Posted on 08/07/2010 10:07:35 AM PDT by BenLurkin
Included among the 20 worst-paying college degrees are elementary education, special education, social work and child and family studies. That's the conclusion of the latest annual study of college degrees by Payscale, Inc. that compiled starting and mid-career pay for dozens of college majors.
Child and family studies earned the honors as the worst-paying college major. The average graduate earns a beginning salary of $29,500. What's equally discouraging is that the salary of someone in this field will barely budge after 15 years in the profession.
Food is another common theme for students who major in the worst-paying college degrees. Students who earn degrees in horticulture, dietetics and the culinary arts are more likely to end up struggling financially.
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
Number 1 is child and family studies. When my parents were raising a family, that “degree” consisted of reading books written by and recommended by doctors and reading monthly magazine articles. In short, mothers and fathers used to need little or no help to raise children.
Now we apparently have “experts” to help us ... experts like my neighbors down the street whose little tykes are hellions on wheels, who are completely undisciplined, and have no respect for authority. One of them tossed chairs around his kindergarten class and tried to bite his teacher on the behind. He’s going to be the oldest kid in his kindergarten class next year at seven and probably the year after that, too.
His mother blames the schools for putting too much pressure on the little tykes!!
My prediction is those two kids are eventually going to pick on the wrong kid and will have both their a$$e$ whupped ... and I know the kid who is most likely to do it. He is protective of his younger siblings and eventually, he will kick their butts ... and I will sell popcorn to the event.
Plus, a lot of Pet Engineers work as consultants, so they earn double what an employee would because they buy their own “benefits.”
I must confess that I loved differential equations. I didn’t realize how many math problems are solved by them.
Avoid the rush, hate UNC-CH & Dook early!
looks like they overstated the earning power of “studies” majors, since most will never work in their field. Since the didn’t average in all the zero’s, the real stats are even worse.
Most Womyns Studies degree holders work as waitresses, bartenders, store clerks or secretaries in non-profits efectively earning nothing from their degrees.
The best way to do this is to convert the equation to the frequency domain and solve it and convert it back.
I also have a degree in Finance from UNC.
I've been studying women all my adult life, never made a dime at it though.
There are a lot of good reasons to pick the poorly paying majors.
1. Like maybe they are what you are good at and passionate about. I’ve tried working in a field I was only so-so about because I wanted the paycheck. Not happy, and not very good at it, either. Went back to law school, and made better money and did something I was better suited for.
2. You might use the knowledge even if you aren’t making money with it. I was a liberal arts/multi-disliplinary major (international relations), math-lite person, and I’m happy to say I use my knowledge all the time. I’m a stay-at-home mom, and my kids get the benefit of my eclectic knowledge every day. Pay? zip. Benefits? huge.
BTW, I paid off my student loans before I got married, so I’d say the math-less career was at least financially neutral, not negative.
3. Maybe some of these majors are good second careers, like the engineers who decide to go into teaching. And, at our church, we really appreciate the clergy who had a “real-life” career before going into the seminary.
Shouldn't that last line be: Have Five?
Very true. However, I don't see any good reason to spend $20,000/year at a private school in order to get out and make $29,000 IF you can get a job. If you're going into teaching, etc., get the cheapest degree you can get, because it doesn't matter where you went. The small liberal arts colleges are a really poor ROI.
I also became a lawyer as a second (kind of third) career. I left a successful career in teaching when I started spending more time administering tests than actually teaching anything. I am very fulfilled with the work I do now, but I actually made more money as a teacher, on an hourly basis.
“The small liberal arts colleges are a really poor ROI.”
I agree. Bummer, too, because I went to one, and would love for my kids to go to one, if it suited their goals. But if you do not have generous parents and/or a plan for graduating without huge debt, it’s not feasible. It’s too big a load to start out your life with.
When do they start using us like batteries?
Do you think they’ll let me be a rock star or a bank CEO post-golden parachute?
Am I setting my sights too low?
Any suggestions for when it’s my turn to go “copper top”?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.