8 College Degrees with the Worst Return on Investment:
8. Sociology
7. Fine Arts
6. Education
5. Religious Studies/Theology
4. Hospitality/Tourism
3. Nutrition
2. Psychology
1. Communications
To my children and college student friends: If you are borrowing money for an education, make sure you do so for something that makes you more valuable in the workforce, not less!
Learn from me, a sociology/psychology major who has worked in education, communications and religion and married a fine arts major. The bad news would make me eat better and take a vacation, but I can’t afford either. I am 8 out of 8 on this data, bro.
Kari and I have a great life. But we have struggled with money, broken cars, deferred home maintenance and still struggle to keep credit cards paid off. The first vacation we paid for ourselves came in our 20th year of marriage. And we didn’t have student loans. If we had to pay today’s tuition prices we would have been paying off our student loans deep into our 40’s.
Those loans will follow you forever. It is easier to get out of needing oxygen than student loans. So make them count!
O, and the really bad news: My really smart, super fun, very personable friend with a PhD in Old Testament from a prestigious East Coast university can’t get Starbucks to even interview him.
#becarefulyourfuturemightsuck
And I am not saying you shouldn’t serve God. You can serve God with a chemistry or engineering degree…maybe even in full-time Christian service. But if you don’t have a degree with cash value, you have no fallback and no way to pay off the loans that will keep you out of the low paying ministry job you feel called to.
The best part: When I checked the preview for this post, an ad for Liberty University online popped up offering student loans for a degree in theology. Appropriate.
Source: http://salary.com/8%2Dcollege%2Ddegrees%2Dwith%2Dthe%2Dworst%2Dreturn%2Don%2Dinvestment/
the gospel side 
Undergrad is not important…it’s your postgrad that people will ask you about so why do people move away for college and accrue huge debts? Stay at home, do a decent but cheap undergrad that will allow you to finish with no debt. Work 2-3 years and save for a decent postgrad. But, we always have to remember that the bottom line for believers is that our job satisfaction and income etc are not as important as knowing and pleasing the Lord. (I don’t have job and we live on one income so that I can’t spend time discipling girls among other things…would love the income but prefer to have time for ministry…no regrets here!)
Amen on all you say, julie. I am trying to balance the GCU admissions student debt machine.
I can’t believe English wasn’t on the top 8! I bet it would have been on the top 10…and for the record, English was my major, and no I’m not using my degree but yes I worked at Starbucks and will probably return there within the next year or so.
Hi Rosie,
My guess is that English isn’t on there since so many lawyers (and now bloggers) were English majors.
By the way, you have a great blog. Good luck on the children’s book and thank your husband for me for his service to our country.
God’s protection and blessings on you both.
Matt
Of course if you can even contemplate this question you’re not lined up for a math/engineering/physical science degree and are therefore already starting out in the hole! 🙂
🙂
I actually wrote it in response to a group of poor kids at a local for-profit Christian university. They are signing kids up as “Christian Studies” majors and they can’t even finish the degree due to debt. They end up in default, some with 6 figure growing balances…and no degree and not able to work in a ministry position due to either lack of a degree or not able to afford to work at the salary.
Oy. The whole phrase “for-profit Christian university” makes my inner Jesus want to overturn desks at course registration.
Yeah. To see it in practice even raises more questions and eyebrows. Imagine the mega church and for-profit principles applied to education: every thing is about having a great campus experience, very little is about getting an actual education. Registration and student loans drive everything. And all of it underwritten by our government.
They had a $254 million initial public offering.