Financial Planning

The 5 Worst-Paying College Majors

Written by Mint.com
Published Oct 31, 2012
1 min read
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MintLife has covered the best-paying college majors, but what about the majors that pay the least?

Looking at the data below, it seems the jobs that tend to help people and make the world a better place don’t always seem to come with the heftiest paychecks. For example, it would take 35 elementary school teachers one year to earn the yearly salary of some professional football players.

Even if you aren’t gifted with a tight end, there are still high paychecks to be made. A petroleum engineering major can look forward to mid-career earnings of $163,000, typically. You can also check out this post on surprising jobs that pay 75k.

So, why do some people choose majors that pay so little?

In a 2012-2013 College Salary Report, PayScale examined 130 of the most common majors, according to job meaning and salary potential. Here are the five majors that pay the least:

There’s a lot more to the report, which you can check out in the link above. But as for these majors, people pick them because they’re rewarding, which many consider to be invaluable.

“The 5 Worst-Paying College Majors” was provided by MoneyTalksNews.com.