(Editor?s note: This is part two in a Kansas News Service series on college and careers)
Life is expensive. Rent, health care, raising a family, saving for retirement ? it adds up. But so does college debt. In fact, the cost of college shot up many times faster than typical U.S. earnings in recent decades.
So, what to do after high school? Here?s what you need to know.
College is your best bet for higher earnings long-term.
Only three in 10 people who stop at a high school diploma will manage to land what Georgetown University researchers term ?good jobs? ? jobs that will earn you at least $35,000 in your mid-20s through early 40s, and at least $45,000 after middle age.
And the bulk of those ?good jobs? for people with a high school diploma alone go to men.
?If you?re a young woman,? says Georgetown economist Nicole Smith, ?there are very, very few opportunities for you.?
On the whole, bachelor?s degrees bring home bigger paychecks than two-year programs. (See chart below.)
Not all four-year degrees offer clear-cut paths to great paychecks.
In today?s era of college debt, it?s worth knowing not just what you?ll pay for college, but what you?ll earn. Nearly a third of U.S. adults have bachelor?s degrees nowadays. That means the letters ?B.A.? or ?B.S.? on your resume don?t carry the same weight they did back when those distinctions were rare.
Georgetown?s interactive college majors tool shows you incomes nationally or by state. The average arts major in Kansas earns $42,000. A bachelor?s in psychology, social work or education will earn you about the same. Majors like health, communications and biology land in the $50,000 range. Math, computers, architecture and engineering reach the $80,000 range.
