5 Least Valuable College Majors

June 3, 2014

shawncalhoun / Flickr / CC BY-NC

With tuition rates at all-time highs, and student debt rapidly becoming a major challenge faced by millenials, college degrees are becoming a riskier investment. While any college degree is bound to hold some value, many students need their earning potential to be high upon graduation. Unfortunately not every degree offers high earning potential.

Which are the least valuable college majors? With this in mind, here's a list of the college degrees that, as of data from 2012, have the lowest income earning potentials:

  1. Social Work

The average starting salary for workers in this field is $33,000, with a mid-career estimate of $46,600. Social workers fill important roles in the social services field, and are often vital government employees. However, don't expect to bring home much of a paycheck. One good thing about this option is that, as a social worker, you would definitely qualify for forgiveness of federal loans after ten years, so if you're fine with the pay, this job might still be a viable option.

 

Despite their important work, social workers are not well paid.

U.S. National Archives and Records Administration / wikimedia / CC0

  1. Philosophy and Religious Studies

Called to the cloth? Be sure to choose an affordable school. Students of Philosophy and Religious studies can, on average, expect to make about $30,000 annually upon graduation. Seasoned members of the field might earn $48k on average. The unemployment rate for recent graduates is about 10.8%, not including those working in coffee shops. You'll really need to adapt to the public servant mentality to thrive in this field.

 

  1. Elementary Education

Think it's great being an elementary school teacher? How do you feel about working long hours each week (while only getting part, not all, of the summer off), for low pay? That is what you can expect working in elementary education. With a starting salary of $32,200 and an average mid-career salary of $45,300, you won't be making much compared to other professions with the same educational requirements. You will, however, be teaching and training the next generation of all of those other professionals, ironically. Thankfully you do qualify for loan forgiveness if you go into education, so that's something.

 

  1. Fine Arts

We've all heard of the starving artist trope. Turns out it's a very real phenomenon! About 12.6% of recent graduates of Fine Arts programs are unemployed. Starting salary for this field is about $30,000. With experience in the field, the unemployment rate is still 7.3%, and median earnings are $45,000. With this degree it's important that you value creative expression over luxury, because you certainly won't have much of the latter.

In Fine Art, you'll be surrounded by strikingly interesting and beautiful things. But if you want them for yourself, you'll have to create them.

See-Ming Lee / flickr / CC BY

  1. Anthropology and Archaeology

So you took a course in Anthropology and you're excited to become the next Indiana Jones? Stop. This is not the reality of those who go into the field of anthropology. You will be doing some pretty neat stuff, and you might study some exotic cultures, but unless you go further into academia you will probably never earn enough to be able to afford to go see them in real life. The average starting salary for a student of Anthropology and Archaeology is about $28,000, and seasoned members of the field earn about $37,200. Which is sort of something to sneeze at. Even though it might not seem like it at 18, it is. Don't be fooled by your loveable Folklore professor.

 

What's Not on This List?

No allied health careers are found on this list. This has a lot to do with the return on investment most allied health professionals see from their education. The costs for many allied health programs are often in line with career earning potential. For example, most Medical Assistant programs can be completed in 1 year or less and typically cost anywhere from $5,000 to $15,000. The resulting career offers extremely high job growth and a median salary of $29,700 per year. Compare that to a Bachelor's degree in Anthropology which takes 4 years to complete and can range in cost from $40,000 to $120,000.