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2012's Worst Paying College Degrees
Townhall.com ^ | November 29, 2012 | Political Calculations

Posted on 11/29/2012 8:48:03 AM PST by Kaslin

Payscale.com analyzed the data in its online salary database and has revealed the college degrees that go along with the jobs that have the lowest median pay for their respective career professionals in its 2012-13 College Salary Report. Note - these figures represent the typical annual combination of pay, bonuses, commissions and profit sharing earned by people who have been successful in working in these fields for at least 10 years and were willing to participate in Payscale.com's survey, which means the reported median incomes will likely be inflated above each field's actual median incomes....

College Degree

Median Annual Salary
Child and Family Studies

$37,700

Social Work

$45,300

Elementary Education

$46,000

Human Development

$47,800

Special Education

$48,900

Culinary Arts

$49,700

Athletic Training

$49,800

So what possesses people to take out big student loans to go into professions like these that offer such little compensation? Payscale.com offers the following insight:

"According to our research, people in these majors typically believe their work makes the world a better place," says PayScale’s lead analyst Katie Bardaro.

Another Graduate Goes Begging for a Job - Source: GlobalElites

To translate, the people in these majors are perhaps so disconnected from reality that they do not recognize that the reason their trades provide so little return on their educational investment is because they really do not require unique ability, which is why society does not reward them with greater compensation.

These people are then exploited by the higher education establishment, which really does know better, but can't help noticing that these same people are willing to pay nearly the same amount of money for their college degrees as do people in careers that society values a lot more.

And let's not forget the role of the U.S. federal government in guaranteeing and issuing student loans, which has its own ulterior motives for pushing higher education that offers little real benefit to society.

Elsewhere on the Web

Say what you will about the careers that go with the degrees above, but at least many of the people who pursue these degrees might actually get jobs in their fields of study, if only low paying ones. Kiplinger's Caitlin Dewey takes things several steps further and identifies the college degrees in Payscale.com's database that combine low pay with high rates of unemployment for their graduates!

Also, this isn't just an American phenomenon. Don't miss this perspective by a recent PhD graduate in Britain who complains that the "real world" doesn't understand or appreciate their skills.

Image Source: Global Elites.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS:
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To: wideawake

“...a ticket to high-paying non-job jobs...”

And almost every major university has a bureaucracy for minority outreach, inclusiveness, etc.

A typical look at the employment section of a university will show openings for something like “Deputy Assistant to the Dean for Diversity and Student Issues”.


61 posted on 11/29/2012 10:50:27 AM PST by Monterrosa-24 (...even more American than a French bikini and a Russian AK-47.)
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To: TADSLOS
The first 5 of those college degrees listed lead to government jobs. A 40k/yr median income salary at full time employment with benefits funded by taxpayers is pretty attractive to a jobless liberal arts graduate in a nation with a real world unemployment rate of 20%.

But they have no chance of landing a cushy government job unless they are a member of a protected minority.

62 posted on 11/29/2012 10:54:59 AM PST by SVTCobra03 (You can never have enough friends, horsepower or ammunition.)
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To: oh8eleven
Child and Family Studies

Formally known as parenthood.

Back when dinosaurs roamed the earth and I was in college (1973-77 to be exact), that degree at my school was called Family Relations and Child Development in the College of Home Economics. Observational realists, like myself, called it the Mrs. degree.

63 posted on 11/29/2012 10:56:43 AM PST by T-Bird45 (It feels like the seventies, and it shouldn't.)
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To: MrB
I call those the general victimhood studies, you know, “I don’t want to conform to societal norms and I’m being marginalized for it so I’m a victim” studies.

I call them.......victimhoodlums.

64 posted on 11/29/2012 11:03:29 AM PST by Roccus
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To: CharlesWayneCT
Behind civil engineering, which in my day was the engineering field for people who couldn’t pass real engineering courses...

Today that would easily be Industrial Engineering. Dumb as a bag of hammers they are.

65 posted on 11/29/2012 11:05:10 AM PST by Last Dakotan
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To: T-Bird45

“...when dinosaurs roamed the earth and I was in college (1973-77 to be exact)...”

I was at Western Kentucky University those exact same years and much later got a grad degree at Alabama. Now I have a son in college and it seems the lib activist professors are the same now as then. The difference is there were also some conservative professors when I was in. Now the conservatives seem even more endangered than the snow leopard.


66 posted on 11/29/2012 11:05:24 AM PST by Monterrosa-24 (...even more American than a French bikini and a Russian AK-47.)
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To: struggle

I don’t mind the process, what is irritating is having to wait to get in. If I could just pay and write a test and be done, I’d be thrilled. But it’s up to the colleges to admit me first, and there’s nothing I can do about it.


67 posted on 11/29/2012 11:16:18 AM PST by JCBreckenridge (They may take our lives... but they'll never take our FREEDOM!)
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To: Beagle8U

That’s my laugh of the day. I told it to my wife and she thought it was funny too and she doesn’t usually appreciate scatological humor, I told it to her in the form of a question, I got to tell her she didn’t know shit, without getting knocked down.


68 posted on 11/29/2012 11:22:08 AM PST by Graybeard58 (What G.O.P.e. candidate is in store for us in 2016?)
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To: Monterrosa-24

Oklahoma State was my school and I only occasionally had to deal with lib-profs during undergrad, usually on days I had to wear my Army ROTC uniform. OOTH, I had some great professors that taught straight down the middle and would engage in discussion from either side. A couple of the history professors were particularly good at this.

When I returned for graduate work in the 2000s, much had changed, along the lines you note your son is experiencing. Much more in-your-face libness but I gave back as good as I got...at least I believe I did, anyway.


69 posted on 11/29/2012 11:34:27 AM PST by T-Bird45 (It feels like the seventies, and it shouldn't.)
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To: laweeks
My son studied astronomy . . . well, he took up space.

Good one!

Now a PHD in astrophysics can get you a job teaching MS physics majors working toward their PHDs...and so it goes!

Regards,
GtG

70 posted on 11/29/2012 11:35:12 AM PST by Gandalf_The_Gray (I live in my own little world, I like it 'cuz they know me here.)
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To: T-Bird45

OOTH - should be OTOH...FR edit function in the future, I hope.


71 posted on 11/29/2012 11:36:13 AM PST by T-Bird45 (It feels like the seventies, and it shouldn't.)
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To: driftless2
Hey, I bet those degrees in Womyn’s, Queer, and various minority studies pay exceptionally well. (snicker)

From the article: "Note - these figures represent the typical annual combination of pay, bonuses, commissions and profit sharing earned by people who have been successful in working in these fields for at least 10 years">

I don't think those fields qualify, since there are no jobs in those fields.

72 posted on 11/29/2012 12:25:48 PM PST by Pollster1 (Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. - Ronald Reagan)
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To: JCBreckenridge

>>I don’t mind the process, what is irritating is having to wait to get in. If I could just pay and write a test and be done, I’d be thrilled. But it’s up to the colleges to admit me first, and there’s nothing I can do about it.

Have you tried this?

http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index2.aspx?id=7073


73 posted on 11/29/2012 12:45:01 PM PST by struggle (http://killthegovernment.wordpress.com/)
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To: Catholic Canadian

More than a degree in Anthropology with a minor in Climate Change from the University of Michigan!
She is now working for $9.50 and hour part time!


74 posted on 11/29/2012 12:56:20 PM PST by MissP-38
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To: struggle

Have not. Thank you. :)


75 posted on 11/29/2012 1:16:44 PM PST by JCBreckenridge (They may take our lives... but they'll never take our FREEDOM!)
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To: Kaslin

A long time friend of mine has a grand daughter in UCLA.

She is now a junior, and has been in a Political Science major for all 3 years.

She did NOT know who George Soros was when he questioned her. She voted Obama.

He is a staunch Republican conservative.


76 posted on 11/29/2012 1:34:43 PM PST by ridesthemiles
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To: wideawake

‘Rent seeking.’ You must have gone to George Mason University (Public Choice Center, Econ program).

;)


77 posted on 11/29/2012 2:30:19 PM PST by 4Liberty (Some on our "Roads & Bridges" head to the beach. Others head to their offices, farms, libraries....)
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To: July4

I am sure they can find jobs in HR departments in large corporations and government everywhere.


78 posted on 11/29/2012 2:34:38 PM PST by NathanR
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To: JCBreckenridge

I imagine that is a state-by-state thing. I don’t know whether Virginia requires an education degree. I think they do. I know that people who quit working where I work to go into teaching went back to college to get an education masters degree, don’t know if that was required, or just the best way to get into the job market.

My daughter is hitting all the “right” notes. She’s double-majoring in Criminal Justice and English, she was going to minor in psychology, and then get a masters in education. She understands she won’t be making much money that way.

She could have done science, but she simply doesn’t like it, even though she was pretty good at it.

My son fell in love with chemistry. We’ll see how THAT job market works out.

Still, I think and keep telling them that it’s not just what degree you get, but also how well you do getting it, and then how well you can work once you land a job.


79 posted on 11/29/2012 2:49:12 PM PST by CharlesWayneCT
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To: CharlesWayneCT
My son fell in love with chemistry. We’ll see how THAT job market works out.

A good friend of mine is a Chemistry PhD who used to work for Thiokol Corp, the company who make the solid rocket boosters for the space shuttle. He has taught college and is an expert in polymer chemistry.

He recently went back to school for mechanical engineering because Obambi gutted NASA, space shuttle is dead and he couldn't get any other work. Now that he has a BS in ME, he has a pretty good chance to find employment.

YMMV

80 posted on 11/29/2012 2:58:08 PM PST by TChris ("Hello", the politician lied.)
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