The 13 Worst-Paying College Majors: PayScale List

Salary data site PayScale calculated the dirt on the best and worst-paying college degrees in their annual salary survey and, according to its findings, the latter career paths include things having to do with art, children and social services. (The former list is heavy on engineering.)

Click through the full list below. And tell us in the comments section: Is your major on this list? Are you worried about future salary prospects?

1 of 13

Children and Family Studies

1 of 14

First Slide

Previous Slide

@

Starting Median Pay: $29,600 Mid-Career Median Pay: $40,500

Really Unique And Sometimes Weird Scholarships

Academic Ranking of World Universities in Computer Science

The Evolution Of The Dorm Room

Large Financial Donations To Universities

The Best Of The Best 2012

Most Dangerous College Campuses: According To The Daily Beast's Analysis

Starting Median Pay: $29,600
Mid-Career Median Pay: $40,500

comments(1056)

Total comments: 1056 | Post a Comment

1 of 14

Rate This Slide

Rank #2  |  Average: 4

That's my major! Not surprised

• 
  1
• 
  2
• 
  3
• 
  4
• 
  5
• 
  6
• 
  7
• 
  8
• 
  9
• 
  10

Current Top 5 Slides

loading...

Choose your Top 5 Slides

UserName

 | Become a fan

Picked These as the Top 5 Slides in the Slideshow

loading...

Top User Slides

← Prev|Next →

 | Become a fan

Picked These as the Top 5 Slides in the Slideshow

loading...

Users who voted on this slide

← Prev|Next →

loading...

Comments

[VettaNels]

10:10 PM on 09/14/2011

and the highest probably goes to Lawyers or Dept of corrections of course not humanitarian work shows where the country is headed.

[CDL1]

03:53 PM on 08/11/2011

I'm getting a PhD in human geography and will hopefully become a professor. I'm definately not doing it for the pay, but the quality of life will be great. Thats what matters most..

[BobSacamano]

02:16 PM on 08/08/2011

That's fine to go into these careers...but if you knowingly go into a career that pays little, such as teaching, please don't complain about the pay. I wanted a certain lifestyle so I studied a major that would get me the income I wanted. I'm tired of people knowingly becoming social workers or teachers because they are young and dumb, realize that they don't make enough and then complain about it.

[Stanley Alton Blow III]

10:45 AM on 08/08/2011

Well, Journalism didn't make that list. That makes me very happy

[RunDaBx]

08:56 AM on 08/06/2011

there's a major called "recreation and leisure studies?" i went into the wrong major!

[CDL1]

03:50 PM on 08/11/2011

I have a friend who majored in it. He got a job working at a youth center making about $12.00. He was also the center's swim coach. It took him 3 months of working 50 hour weeks and hating it before he decided to go back to school and study aviation. Three years later, he's now a flight instructor trying to get enough flight hours to become a commercial pilot. You made the right choice in not choosing recreation as a major...

[taja bankhead]

09:42 PM on 08/03/2011

Wait a minute. One of the things that we have to consider is that these people who majored in these fields have jobs.They do make modest salaries, but they still have a job. What about those majors that are least likely to get employed with only a bachelor's degree? Those who were the least unable to gain employment even with their chosen degree? That's what matters to me. In these times, it's better to have a job than no job at all.

[hsspringman]

02:00 PM on 08/03/2011

Well if that does not tell a lot about the US. The jobs that we need to have the best people in are the one ones that pay the least, go figure.

[Wendy Cha]

11:38 AM on 08/03/2011

if they're happy who cares, the point of life is happiness, without it there is no point

[lven091204]

02:02 PM on 08/02/2011

I majored in Urban Planing way back in the late 70's. Never found a job in the field. Instead went into industrial pipe, valve and fitting sales and ended up earning $75 to $98k per year. Still wasn't what I wanted to do and hated getting up on Mondays. Looking back, I would advise a high school senior to spend the entire summer before college, researching the career path they have any interest in. Shadow someone doing the job you think you desire. One thing to keep in mind for any job: You will have a ton of competition with other college grads. Totally dedicate yourself to your grades-it does make a difference to employers. Choose a major that actually "trains" you to do a job. Put yourself in the employers shoes-would you hire you? Majoring in engineering or accounting is a very specific skill set. A general business degree will just put you into the masses of other applicants and a average GPA will get you lost in the crowd. If you would rather chase your passion in arts, teaching or social work, then do it. Money isn't everything if, like I was, you hate seeing Monday because you hate your job. I would have rather made $35,000 a year and loved going to work than made $98,000 and been miserable. You spend the better part of your life on the job, so find something you have a passion for and go for it.

[Pakulio]

12:09 PM on 08/02/2011

I have to strongly disagree with the thirteenth one (Paralegal). A Paralegal degree can be obtained at a two year community college, and has a higher payout than some of those four year degrees.

[LaurenGawthrop]

04:17 AM on 08/02/2011

Somebody forgot journalism! When I first started out in TV a couple years ago, my salary was in the teens and myself and many of my coworkers qualified for government assistance. I don't think any of us expected to make so little in a job that requires a degree, but many of us were not told so while studying for the profession in college. In such a highly competitive field and highly visible position that carries a lot of responsibility, maybe we should have been warned? Still love what I do, though.

[Tommy Carrington]

07:09 PM on 08/01/2011

There are some things in life that drive some of us more than salaries -- Personal Mission/Calling; opportunities to impact other peoples' lives; fulfillment and satisfaction in life; and the knowledge that you are doing the thing you were created to do, are much greater motivational factors than the size of the paycheck. It makes me sleep so much sounder, and live life with so much joy!! No bank account can do that!!

[Howard53545]

07:44 AM on 07/30/2011

Why would anyone major in a field that only pays $26,000 dollars a year? I guess they are not too bright.

[markopolio]

02:39 PM on 07/30/2011

maybe because some people want to do something that interests them and aren't completely guided by money? But hey, I could be wrong.

[BobSacamano]

02:17 PM on 08/08/2011

i think it more likely that they were young and idealistic. then they woke up one day and then realized the error of their ways....

[genrel1248]

05:54 PM on 07/29/2011

I dont see where any of those majors (except art) require any great talent or intellectual ability. Why should a social worker make the same as an engineer? One requires a specialized skill and education set and the other doesnt. As far as artists...follow your dreams and keep your day job

[mypathfinder]

09:08 AM on 07/31/2011

Unfortunately this is an indication of our country placing a higher priority on new technology than the welfare of our children. This is why so many children are abused and killed in foster care because the low salaries do not attract the higher quality applicants.

[PRCMD]

12:03 PM on 07/29/2011

Breaking News; The invisible hand of the free market has announced that it will not reward any effort that enlivens and maintains a healthy American culture or cares for children or the needy. When asked for comment Tommy Teabagger Ph.D,.ON, UT, the 4 year old emeritus professor from Koch University-Oxnuts, responded: Have you not been listening? Our research proves that freeing the job creators from the tyranny of taxation and prosperity will lead to more prosperity! What?!?! We've tried that already? It didn't work? You lie! You lie!! You lie!!! Dr. Teabagger then mistook his parents for secular humanists and escalated into a full-tilt temper tantrum. He wll not be reachable for the remainder of the day, having been confined to his room.

[PRCMD]

01:32 PM on 09/20/2011

Smart aleck response: My god! I thought Any Rand was dead!
Serious response: The syntax of your proposal can't drive reality to the extent you do. Of course we need to create a new generation of jobs and of course, the process of wealth accelerates.

From my point of view as a physician and a state administrator. The right cares not to answer this: A widening gap between the rich and the rest of us. Reduced taxation of the rich leading to nothing more than the worst recession since 1929. Deregulation leading to a housing crisis and Wall Street collapse.

Your viewpoint is only one side of the dynamic of how we move forward. Most of us want compromise, negotiation and a balance between capitalism and social welfare, between free market entrepreneurial ventures and regulation to prevent climate change and exploitation of people who work.
I work in social services, the glue to prevent our society from falling apart and from costing society even more. You probably don't see those persons we take care of and keep out of trouble. My job pays less. I don't object. I pay taxes. I give time and money to charity. I invest in mutual funds to create jobs and products, and get a return on my investment.

I satirize the right because in it's becoming a mean-spirited bunch sanctioning nativism, racism, demonization of the poor and of social welfare, it also demeans the serious arguments that conservatives should espouse.

[CDL1]

03:55 PM on 08/11/2011

You just got fanned!