List for me some other $35-40k/yr jobs which require a bachelor's degree in a difficult technical field. A high school teacher with seniority makes that much or more, but he also has job security and two months of time off in the summer. Nurses make around that, but the jobs can't be filled at that payscale and we have to import foreigners to fill in. Many nurses also only work 3-4 days per week.
At $35-40k, I'll gladly send my kids into some other field.
A top mechanic at a Mercedes dealer, makes $80K a year.
no one in the US is going to get a master's degree in engineering to make $40K/yr. no one.
all of my techie friends - are piling their kids into law schools.