In college, I went from computer science major (dropped that because of what I heard about these jobs being offshored), to economics major (dropped that because it would have taken an extra semester at a cost of about $ 10,000), and finally, to political science major. Because of working a full time job, transferring schools, not having money to attend summer semesters, it took me 5 years to complete my bachelor’s degree. While doing so, I amassed a debt in the $ 40k range.

While I was in school, I did some research as to how I could work my degree. Many legitimate job/salary websites (Payscale.com, Salary.com, CNN, MSNBC, etc.) showed the types of jobs and salaries one could expect to see after graduation with my degree and work experience. The salaries ranged from $ 38k/yr to $ 43k/yr; not bad to start out on. Well, I can say that those certainly weren’t the job offers I received. The job I have now initially offered me $ 29k per year. I took it, because I had bills to pay.

The sentiments on Internet forums such as this one have led me to my greatest fear. I fear that I will be stuck with low paying jobs that offer no career growth or advancement opportunities for the rest of my life. In addition, I fear that I will never be able to start a family, purchase a house, or simply live a financially stable life. There seems to be a widespread belief that white collar jobs are diminishing and that my degree is nothing more than the “new high school diploma”. Well, I don’t recall a high school diploma ever costing an individual $ 60k, but I digress.

Trust me, I don’t have an issue with confidence. I do a very good job at what I do. I have a lot of essential skills that I see lacking in even some of the upper level management people. Having taken business and advanced math classes in college and working with computers since I was 10, I have a strong background in all of these areas. I’ve been working office jobs since I was 17 years old. Yet, it seems that a lot of people now days frown upon college graduates. The mentoring I received in the past seems worthless. I used to hear that many people worked in fields other than what they studied in college and were successful. Are these happy days over? Have I dug myself into a hole that I’ll never get out of? Is it worth going on?

Bottom line…I don’t want to spend the rest of my life working only to pay off my student loans. That’s not a life worth living.
A notoriously low paying degree? What does that mean exactly? I went to a public university that is often ranked in the top 5-10 in the nation (University of Michigan). I took Calculus classes, computer science classes, statistic classes, business law classes, economics classes. I have developed analytical skills, communication skills, writing skills, etc. STOP looking at just the degree and see what skills have been developed.

High school graduates make what I make. I’d certainly EXPECT to make more than that given I am a good worker (which I believe I am).
Also, I’m not expecting a six figure salary here. But to be making close to what I was making in high school and college is a tad bit ridiculous. Basically, it’s like saying the skills you have added since then mean nothing.
Connor B…think of it this way. You choose a major and you look at the salary data for it and you think that’s not too bad. Now, you spend years in school and pay all this money for the education. You graduate. You go looking for jobs only to find that A) there are none) and B) the ones available don’t pay anything close to what you were expecting based on your research. This is what happened to me. And that is the situation you may find yourself in one day. How would you feel?