For many students whether you’re a first semester freshman or soon to be graduating senior, the financial burden of a college education can be overwhelming. And not just for you but for your parents was well. Just ask them if they haven’t already begun questioning you about how you’re going to pay for your education with a Liberal Arts or Communications degree. For others, often those entering into professional programs, tend to bank on the fact that they will be entering into career fields where the expected earning potential balances out the high cost of a college education. I remember being in college and friends talking about a formula, age multiplied by $500 for an Associate’s, $1000 for a Bachelor’s and $1500 for a graduate degree equaled what you could expect to make when you graduated. So if you were 22 years old graduating with a Bachelor’s Degree and were making more than $22,000 you were meeting your earning potential. That was then and this is now.

Because the topics of earning potential and starting salaries are ones that cause many of you a great amount of anxiety I have included two charts; one outlying the starting salaries for 15 college majors and the second outlining median annual income level by education. The first chart highlights information gained from the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) 2006 summer salary survey of graduates; listing major, average starting salary and the total number of student responses. Because this information comes from students at institutions throughout the country there is no guarantee that if you majored in Journalism and are looking for work in Utica, New York you will make $30,558 a year. However, what it does give you is an accurate point of reference of what your peers from the class of 2006 with like degrees have found for starting salaries. One final thought is that this information does not provide what industries students with these majors chose to work in. For that and other detailed information on the subject of entry level salaries, I would encourage you to visit your institution’s Career Services office and/or the NACE website www.naceweb.org, both are valuable resources for salary information. The second chart highlights many things, but for the purpose of this topic, that there is a correlation between income level and educational attainment. So although education is expensive based on this information, you can make the argument that it takes money to make money.