What's Your College Degree Worth?

When I first wrote about this question over a decade ago, it was in response to job seeker in an article for the Wall Street Journal who had this to say:

"A degree isn't any big guarantee of employment, it's a basic requirement, a step you have to take to even be considered for many professional jobs."

Fast forward to now and college graduates, particularly in the context of Black college debt and the pandemic chaos are asking themselves often - What's my college degree worth?

It's a valid question and the answer is still pretty clear.  Generally speaking, the more you learn, the more you earn!

But that's the simple answer.  It makes sense to explore some of the variables that will impact each person's situation.

College Major Matters

This is not meant to say that people should only focus on earning degrees in certain college majors identified as money makers.  We all know that there are extremely successful professionals who pursued various majors in college.  Sometimes, there might actually be very little relationship between the major and the career, but the graduates still achieved success.  Washington Post research actually shows that only about 27% of people have a job related to their college major.

Given all that, research from Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce, showed that the difference in earnings between one major and another can be more than 300 % depending on the college major selected.  For example, below are the projected starting salaries for graduates with bachelors degrees.  The averages here don't reflect a 300% difference between the smallest and the largest, but factors like geography, specific job, industry etc. will all impact an individual's starting salary after college. Although these numbers jump around a little bit, note that the Humanities salary represented an 11% increase over the 2020 projection. Maybe this means that, finally, companies are starting to recognize the skills and behaviors developed in some of these other programs? I don’t know. I’ll have to look into this.

• Engineering - $69,961

• Computer Science - $67,411

• Math and Sciences - $63,316

• Business - $58,869

• Social Sciences - $59,919

• Humanities - $59,500

• Agriculture and Natural Resources - $54,857

• Communications - $58,174

Time Beyond Graduation Matters

Having served thousands of new college graduates via The HBCU Career Center, I am always amazed at how many graduates still believe that the college degree is the end of a dream. Granted, it is a big deal. However, graduates should remember that although the bachelors degree marks a significant accomplishment, it is really a new beginning, not an end. Now that they are armed with a college degree, time, experience and new skills will be a factor in future earnings.  This College Board graphic from the 2016 Education Pays Report shows the difference in earnings over time, based on level of education achieved.

What is your degree worth?

The Social Security Administration also tracks lifetime earnings. Therefore, the answer to the question - What's your college degree worth? can be found in lifetime earnings data. For men and women with Bachelor degrees, the average lifetime earning is about $750,000 dollars more than for a person with a high school diploma.  For men and women with graduate degrees, the lifetime earning is almost $1.3 million more than a high school graduate.

Employability Matters

All other things such as industry changes, skills, geography, state of the economy, personal drive being equal - college graduates will always have an easier time finding employment. The unemployment rate among the college educated is always lower than that of workers with less educational attainment.

The 2018 Bureau of Labor Statistics data below demonstrates this inverse relationship between educational attainment and unemployment.  As educational attainment goes higher, the unemployment percentage rate for people in that group is lower.

• Doctoral degree - 1.6%

• Professional degree - 1.5%

• Master's degree - 2.1%

• Bachelor's degree - 2.2%

• Associate degree - 2.8%

• Some college, no degree - 3.7%

• High school diploma, no college - 4.1%

• Less than high school diploma - 5.6%

Job Satisfaction Matters

We are not going to defend the premise that the higher the educational attainment, the higher the wages and therefore the higher the job satisfaction.  Why?  Because we all probably know people right now who make good incomes, and still hate their jobs.

However, looking at the research from the Conference Board (via The Non Profit Times) on employee satisfaction, the data does show a relationship between earnings and job satisfaction.

For example, the report posited that workers earning $125,000 or more had a job satisfaction rating of 62% while those workers making $15,000 or less showed a job satisfaction rate of  42%.

Your Goals Matter

Do what you love

Although lots of data exists to help graduates answer the question about the worth of college degrees, the realized value will still boil down to what the graduate is going to use the degree to accomplish. 

College graduates very quickly learn to appreciate how insecure jobs can be and how little a college degree by itself, without context is really worth. With significant competition for entry-level positions employers are often going to look for more than the degree. Don’t be surprised that recruiters might ask you - "Beyond your college degree, what else have you accomplished"?

Let me be clear - academics are extremely important. However, we should know that what employers want go well beyond the college degree. Employers are looking for job seekers who leave a positive impact as they grow professionally by learning and doing more. Employers also value a strong work ethic, clarity of vision and confidence about professional intent from college graduates. I’ll add here that as the future of work unfolds, especially during and after a pandemic, employers are looking for leadership skills, creativity, problem solving and analytical skills regardless of college major.

Even for graduates who choose not to be employed, but to start their own businesses, these skills and behaviors matter in ultimately determining the value of that college degree you earned.

So the next time someone asks you - "What's your college degree worth?" think carefully about all the variables that could impact how you choose your use your education to build your own professional life. 

The bottom line answer is - It depends.  It depends on you.

Here are a few additional resources as you ponder the worth of a college degree:

• Career Insights - This is a service provided by The HBCU Career Center that offers insights on wages, skills, employment trends, education and projections for the career area by zip code.

• PayScale and Salary - Salary data and job descriptions for thousands of job roles.

• Department of Labor O*Net - detailed descriptions about work, wages, education and employment trends.