<p>Some interesting new data shows that earning a two-year degree in an occupational or technical field can lead to higher pay than many four-year degrees. Graduates of those two year programs averaged $40K per year, with two-year nursing degree holders at $45K.</p>
<p>Bachelors degree grads averaged $39K in the survey population, with majors like history and English coming in at $30K and $29K, respectively.</p>
<p>Two cautions:
- the data appears to be from specific states, which may or may not match the nation as a whole.
- the data captures pay after graduation, not lifetime earnings. It's possible a higher level degree may provide for more pay growth over time.</p>
<p>Simple issue of supply and demand. The country needs more nurses and other vo-tech professionals. We have a surplus of English and history majors, and so, pay will adjust accordingly. Some people like to speak poorly of those who go the vocational route, but we actually need to encourage more students to go into those fields. Some of them are expecting great shortages due to baby boomers retiring.</p>
<p>Your cautions pretty much sum this report up. Maybe there is demand for technical jobs in Virginia. I’m pretty sure if you tried to find a job as a computer specialist or mechanical specialist in the bay area with only an AA, you won’t find anything. So many CS majors and engineering majors with Bachelor’s in that area.</p>
<p>stupiddorkyidiot “Comparing nurses with English majors is, well, apples and oranges. I really don’t like that sort of statistic…”</p>
<p>Ah, but we are talking about life choices where apples and oranges are options that you have to choose between. You have to decide which of two you want to eat for lunch. (the deli gives you the option of one or the other but not both). They are different choices with different prices and opportunity costs. You can chose to spend 4 years of tuition earning a history degree. Or, you can chose to spend two years of tuition and earn an AA in Nursing. From a strictly monetary point of view the 2 year nursing degree is likely to result in higher income than the 4 year history degree. Some students should strongly consider the 2 year specialized degree over a 4 year general degree if they factor in the income potential.</p>
<p>Starting salaries should only be used as one measure. An associates degree may land you an entry level position, but limit your future career opportunities. I think that is a very short-sighted way to measure this. Comparing salaries across different, unrelated fields can also be misleading. Companies who make a business out of analyzing data, probably can compare just about anything, but not sure how someone just entering college would use it for any practical purposes. </p>
<p>It is somewhat like saying that doctors earn more then nurses, which means nothing to someone who prefers nursing as their career choice. A difference of a few thousand dollars in a starting salary could also be the result of where the job is located, since some parts of the country typically have higher living costs and/or might have a more competitive job market.</p>
<p>The bottom line is that we need to stop pushing the idea of a “liberal arts education”. There are plenty of intellectually mature and motivated students who will intentionally seek that out and benefit massively from it; the others will be wasting their time taking irrelevant classes and wasting hundreds of thousands of dollars of their money. Students who have not migrated towards liberal arts should be encouraged to follow vocational pathways that minimize their time/money lost, and should be allowed to specialize as soon as they are ready (i.e. get rid of gen ed).</p>
<p>^That will be ineffective until society as a whole admits that attending a “prestigious” four-year school and then getting a nice job is no longer the case, and it likely never will be again. Schools are built to preach that: get good grades in high school, go to a nice, expensive college, and then get a good job, because who wouldn’t take you?</p>
<p>This system clearly no longer works, but have employers admitted it? No; they still ask for a bachelor’s and five years of experience when they know that the AA holder could be just as qualified as the BA holder. So schools could start steering the lesser achieving kids towards the CC route, but it would be meaningless until this now-irrelevant concept is debunked. But of course, nobody is willing to admit that attending a four-year school is secretly kind of meaningless.</p>
<p>I’m a 23-year-old (soon to be 24) who is in debt from years of failed attempts at a bachelors’ degree. I’m at the point where I want to just cut my losses and move onto a career in which I can support myself. I am looking at doing computer science, which would see me graduating at 27/28, but being this broke into my late twenties puts a knot in my stomach. Do you guys think a 2-year degree is right for me?</p>
<p>Why do you have multiple failed attempts at a 4 year degree? Answer yourself because You need to make sure you don’t carry the same issue with you into a 2 year program. About 80% of kids that start a 2 yr program, do not finish. CC is no panacea for kids unable to do a 4 yr program.</p>
<p>Personally, I recommend taking a break to do some sul searching. Thousands of kids complete a 4 yr degree in 4-6 yrs. Ask yourself if your aspiration matches your motivation. Maybe computer science sounds nice but isn’t exciting enough for you to buckle down to do it. Who really knows what they want to do in the early twenties for the next 50 years? Work, pay off debt, figure some stuff out and set some goals that motivate you to take enough action to see it through to completion. Maybe even join the Navy, see the world, pay off debt, get job training and discipline and use the GI Bill to go to school debt free in 4-5 years.</p>
If we want to compare 2 year Nursing degree vs 4 yr History degree, we should have said so in the title. Of course the 1st choice is better, my parents told me that 30 yrs ago.</p>