{"id":1356,"date":"2016-05-09T09:20:53","date_gmt":"2016-05-09T14:20:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/?p=1356"},"modified":"2016-05-11T10:47:52","modified_gmt":"2016-05-11T15:47:52","slug":"making-the-pay-grade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/2016\/05\/09\/making-the-pay-grade\/","title":{"rendered":"Making the Pay Grade"},"content":{"rendered":"

Students pay the same amount to go to college no matter what their major is, but what they will earn once they graduate varies drastically. This article, CAR and timeline explore the relationship between rising college costs and the majors that make the investment worth it.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Wearing khakis, a red polo, and an all-American smile, Bradley University freshmen Matt Friedhoff walks backward as he gives a tour to prospective students on campus. Between navigating the winding sidewalks and pointing out facilities, Friedhoff spits out statistics about the school\u2014it boasts a 12 to 1 student to faculty ratio, 94 percent of students participate in experiential learning, 85 percent of students receive financial assistance.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember the tour that I got the summer before my junior year. I just had this feeling that Bradley was where I was supposed to be,\u201d Friedhoff said.<\/p>\n

Since coming to Bradley, Friedhoff has settled in to not just one major, but two: public relations and Spanish. A decision he made mostly without statistics.<\/p>\n

\u201cMostly I just liked the subjects,\u201d he said. \u201cI took Spanish all through high school and I like writing, so PR seemed like a good fit. I\u2019m not really sure what kind of job I want afterwards though.\u201d<\/p>\n

Friedhoff isn\u2019t alone. While there are a lot of brochures, rating books, and tour guides full of information for college seniors about where to go to college, many students leave the decision about what to study up to instinct.<\/p>\n

But according to data published by the Wall Street Journal<\/em>,<\/a> college major can have a huge impact on future earnings. The median starting income for a Spanish major, like Friedhoff, is $34,000. Meanwhile, an electrical engineering student, who pays exactly the same tuition, can expect a starting salary of closer to $60,900.<\/p>\n

The stereotypes aren\u2019t always true either. Philosophy majors may have a low median starting salary at just $39,900, but by mid-career the median salary jumps 103 percent to a rather impressive $81,200. What can you do with a degree in philosophy? Get promoted, apparently.<\/p>\n

Check out the full database here.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Bradley University economics professor Dr. Janet Highfill explains the stakes are high. \u201cThe reality is that tuition is climbing, student loan debt is climbing, and the average person on the street doesn\u2019t understand the financial consequences of the decisions they\u2019re making at 17 or 18 years old,\u201d she said. \u201cEconomists agree that college is still a good investment for just about everybody, but it is a better investment for people who pay attention to the labor market trends.\u201d<\/p>\n

To learn more about how the cost of college tuition has increased, check out this timeline.<\/a><\/p>\n

To be clear, income is not the only factor that determines a person\u2019s workplace happiness. As Dr. Rick Smith the Bradley University Director of Career Development explains, \u201cWe help students pursue fields that they find fulfilling, which can mean a number of things. We think students are old enough to know how high a priority salary is in relation to other factors like work-life balance, work environment, and coworkers. We encourage students to investigate a major thoroughly before declaring it.\u201d<\/p>\n

I asked Friedhoff to guess what the median starting salary for a Spanish major was. He overestimated by about $10,000. But he says, to him, it doesn\u2019t really matter. \u201cI like Spanish. I like my classmates. I feel like I\u2019m learning,\u201d he said. \u201cI guess I\u2019ll just let the rest take care of itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hopefully that strategy will pay off.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Students pay the same amount to go to college no matter what their major is, but what they will earn once they graduate varies drastically. This article, CAR and timeline explore the relationship between rising college costs and the majors that make the investment worth it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":98,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[50,72,37],"class_list":["post-1356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","hentry","category-general","tag-car","tag-bradley-university","tag-com-425","post_format-post-format-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/98"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1356"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1356\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1360,"href":"https:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1356\/revisions\/1360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}