As high school seniors ponder the routes they want to take to college, a fresh cache of data taps to see that higher education institutions and programs are paying off for their students, and which ones bring lower wage days.
Edsurge concluded with the latest batch of data from the U.S. Department of Education’s college scorecards to see how universities stack up in terms of revenue, student debt and graduation rates. The numbers are based on information from federally aided students at public universities and universities, whether grants or loans.
The results are four charts showing what the university is worth in terms of cash.
Weight of income on debt
As a student borrower Scramble to make sense That’s no wonder in the courtroom battle over Biden-era repayment policies Some high school students are wary They are expected to take on debts to pay for their education.
Looking at a bird’s-eye view of salaries landing six years after students first enrolled at a university of their choice, at least half of the top 10 institutions in revenue have a maritime academy or a powerful maritime program.
We have written about naval architecture in the past. It’s a niche yet profitable university major that allows graduates to helm huge engineering projects early in their careers, experts say. Initial pay ranges from $75,000 to $85,000 for those going on the military routes, and from $75,000 to $100,000 for graduates entering industries such as oil and gas.
As the median student debt at each university increases, so does the median revenue, except for a handful of people whose revenue-to-debt ratio was upside down. Gramling State University in Louisiana had a median student loan of $36,500. The student achieved a median salary of around $25,600 six years after enrollment.
Bethany Hubert is a financial aid expert at Going Merry By Earnest. This is a website that helps students find scholarships and has helped families and school counselors understand how students can fund their education.
Hubert says he’s heard students express concern about debt outlook, but that doesn’t necessarily stop them from university plans.
“Gen Z students discover that taking on student loans is particularly intimidating and that college costs are very expensive, but there is a question about “Is it even worth it?” – They also feel a lot of pressure to go from parents and school to college,” explains Hubert. “People often feel that is the only way forward for them. Even if they say, ‘OK, well, I want to go to college myself,’ they feel pressured to take their degree from a certain caliber of the university. ”
Parents are usually in charge of this process, she says, and may be willing to take away education loans for their children.
If debt means that it is between low-income and first-generation university students, then there is little support when it comes to planning and funding for higher education if Hubert sees unwillingness.
“I think it comes down to the fact that in the past, students have been able to get a degree and get an education and visualize their return on investment,” she says. Here, college and career preparation is like a multifaceted issue that really pushes the university, but we don’t always explain how to pay for the university. I think many schools can see that deal with that. ”
The data confirms what Hubert experienced when talking to students and their parents.
in Survey of attitudes of approximately 1,000 high school students For higher education, we found that in the third way of a Washington, DC-based think tank, their perception of university return on investment is heavily dependent on students’ family income and socioeconomic status. Of the students who were most concerned about the costs of higher education, 57% believed that a fourth-year degree was “worthy of an investment and usually rewarded.”
“For the next generation of university students, it’s not a question of whether costs are important in post-secondary plans, but how important it is: a total of 89% of students said that costs are “very important” or “somewhat important” in determining whether to participate in a four-year program,” according to the organization’s analysis. “Nearly a third (29%) of students surveyed have either not considered a fourth year degree at all or want to pursue a fourth year degree, but sees cost as a barrier that doesn’t look at as an option.”
Return on investment
It is probably not surprising that science has a four-year degree program that offers the largest paycheck for students who want to earn the highest possible salary after graduation.
The graduates with the highest median salary one year after graduation were those who studied computer science at the University of California, Burkelly University, with students having a median salary of nearly $150,000 and student loan obligations of $13,750.
Other areas of the university programme, which included 100 highest-paid salary for recent graduates, included nursing, pharmaceutical science, engineering, construction management and business management. Students in these programs achieved medians of around $90,000 or more.
The 100 university programs with the lowest starting salary for graduates included majors in drama, art, nutrition, and anthropology.
The Drama School, a graduate of Virginia Tech and State University, earned the highest median salary of around $36,600, while the top art revenues were around $44,500.
