In recent days, there has been a great deal of debate about whether you need a college degree, given its costs, to succeed in the world. Forget that college has long been seen as a way to introduce students to new ideas and different cultures, not to mention the critical thinking and communications skills that business leaders always say they prize.
For many, the question is merely this: Given the cost of tuition, materials and room and board, would students, who may be first-generation college applicants, and their parents be getting a career/job bang for their educational buck?
A recent study offers a qualified “yes.” Using data from the United States Census Bureau and the National Association of Colleges and Employers, Legacy Online School analyzed graduate outcome data to determine the states with the highest-earning graduates, as well as the most lucrative degree subjects. Legacy found that college graduates who hold a bachelor’s degree earn on average 66% more per week ($1,493) than individuals who are only high school graduates ($899). However, as you’ll see below, not all high-paying jobs require a traditional four-year college.
Connecticut and New York were sixth and seventh on the list of states with the most college graduates, behind New Jersey, Massachusetts, Washington, California and Maryland. (Virginia, Colorado and New Hampshire rounded out the top 10.)
In Connecticut, 41.5% of residents 18 years of age and older have a bachelor’s degree. Almost 76% are employed. And their median earnings one year after graduation are $75,975. In New York, 39.4% hold a bachelor’s, 76.3% of them are employed, and their median income one year after graduating is $74, 504. The full dataset is available here.
Through analysis of graduate outcomes from the class of 2023, the most popular degree discipline was business with 107,123 graduates while the lowest subscribed discipline was military science with 14 graduates.
The graduates who earn the most money are those who studied computer and information science, a course that sets up students with in-demand skills from high-paying employers, offering an average of $91,411 per year, much higher than the average $63,721 for the class of 2023. Just more than two-thirds of the subject’s graduates are currently employed (69.3%), more than the U.S. graduate average sitting at 62.1%.
Maintenance and repair programs – which do not require a four-year college setting — yield the second-highest income at $90,162. But just 59 graduates from the class of 2023 studied this degree discipline, the third smallest group from the class, suggesting students may want to give this career path a second look.
Engineering sits in third place with $80,085 on average per year for graduates. Although the subject is high-earning, the competition is fierce, with 49,825 students studying the subject in the class of 2023 and 68.1% of graduates employed.
The lowest-earning subject from the analysis is theology, the study of religion. Only 437 students took the subject, which offers just a $38,710 yearly salary. The employment rate is also on the lower side, with 59.1% of the class of 2023 employed.
Following on from theology with the lowest graduate earners are parks & recreation ($42,117), education ($43,570, and psychology ($44,084). The full dataset is available here.
