Throughout the semester, I have been using these blog post to attempt to answer the question: are liberal arts educations worth paying for? Today, after being prompted by an excellent article addressing this very same question, I would like to discuss this issue in a strictly economic sense. For years, college has been considered one of the best investments a young person could make. By investing in their own personal and professional development, students ensure future success and profit in their careers. However, during the past decade the cost of college has risen so much that many are questioning whether or not this is still a profitable investment.
Although the cost of college has risen greatly, the starting salary of the average college graduate has not changed significantly in the past several years. Therefore, more and more college students are struggling with an almost unmanageable amount of debt when they graduate college. This burden is especially heavy for liberal arts majors. While the bane of liberal arts majors everywhere is the question “How are you going to make a living with that?” a new study done by the research firm PayScale shows that this question is worth thinking about. In the study, researchers have calculated that the return on a college degree depends on what you study, not where you study.
STEM majors, scientists, engineers, and computer scientists, have the handsomest return on their initial investment, earning an impressive average 20-year return of 10% on their college tuition (to put this in perspective, the DOW Jones’ return rate is about 7%). Business and economics degrees also pay well, delivering a solid 8.7% average return. Courses in the arts or the humanities offer vast spiritual rewards, of course, but less impressive material ones. Some yield negative returns.
In economic terms, it seems that many liberal arts majors may not be profitable in the long run. However, these economic trends are just that-trends. In the end, the success of each person rests solely on that person. Qualities like work ethic, determination, and grit are much better indicators of a successful life and career than a simple college major.
This was a very interesting post. First of all, it’s disappointing how much tuition has risen over the years and continues to rise. Obviously, it will naturally rise due to inflation in the American economic system, but I feel like it is rising more than it should. Secondly, it’s also sad how certain majors seem to be discouraged for financial reasons. Unfortunately, this is not an easy problem to fix.
I think the fact that liberal arts majors are struggling to make back their investment says less about the value of a liberal education (quite valuable to the right person) and more about the poor decision making executed by many people when choosing a career path. This is because it is often more difficult to get into a STEM or business program. If both kinds of programs were equally rigorous in requirements (not necessarily advocating this), then you might see some different data.
I’m almost proud of myself because just scrolling through this article I could recognize that the graphs were from The Economist. I recently discontinued my prescription, but it’s a great magazine! They love posting engaging articles like this, and I think they do an outstanding job comprehensively covering topics like this. The overall answer, as you touched on, to “Is college worth it?” seems to be “it depends.” Major, personality, school, and other factors really influence this so it’s impossible to answer with a blanket statement.
I believe college is worth it if you want to be a doctor or an artist. However, before you decide WHICH college to attend you need to take into account your majors return on investment. Different majors lead to different opportunities and different jobs. By calculating how much you expect to earn upon graduation, you can decide whether a cheaper state school or a private institution is the right fit for you.
Crippling debt is not for everyone, but neither struggling to find stable employment in the current capitalist system of America. I am not a liberal arts major, but I alway loved the subjects taught under liberals a bit more. The job prospects for a liberal arts, however, always kept me away and pushed me towards STEM. Student loans in America are a serious issue that need to reevaluated because the daunting costs of education should not cripple talents.
I think it’s very sad that the cost of tuition rises each year, yet once we graduate we still struggle to make enough money to pay back on our student loans. It’s unfair that we have to take on such a large burden at such a young age and spend our whole lives paying our loans back. At the end of the day, the students that want to continue their education to college will find a way to do so. A college education has an inelastic demand and universities are quite aware of this so they take advantage.
It’s terrible that these studies are showing this. I like to think that success relies on the individual but that doesn’t provide much guidance for the public. Does that just mean there really is no formula to success? It just relies on what you can do, the opportunity you’re given, and a little luck. I want to become a screenwriter and I have read numerous bios on successful ones who all had different ways of getting there. Some went to college while others didn’t. It’s really hard to say whether these studies help us know what’s worth studying in college in order to achieve success. Great post!
From an economical standpoint, liberal arts may be a less attractive option, but it really depends on your priorities. If you want to be independent and debt free, then maybe a STEM major would work better. If you’re like me and plan on marrying rich, I’m going to keep on learning some liberal arts.
Check this out, immediately. It’s an interactive tool that sifts through tons of data and tells you when you will be expected to level out your earnings and debt in your life. Enjoy!
http://static.fusion.net/lifetime_earnings/
Hey Alayna!
I miss you and feel like I haven’t seen you in ten years! But I found this post a little saddening for liberal arts majors. I agree with you that the success relies on the person themselves, but it is sad to see that studies show it may not be profitable in the long run. I would be interested in hearing the opinions of liberal arts majors and see why they stay in their college!