College Degrees with Worst Return on Investment

When we think of enrolling in educational degrees the first thing that comes in mind is our career. A handsome paying job, nowadays, is a basic requirement for earning a living in today’s status-conscious world. There is a strong and unbreakable link between educational degrees and our career. If our degree is worth to the contribution in practical and professional life, then it will be enough to provide a sound living in terms of earning potential. So investing in a degree is a big decision. While deciding which degree to pursue we should be aware of how much worth a degree has and whether the degree will pay off in the future or not in terms of earning power. One must differentiate between high-paying business degrees and low-paying degrees.
Earning a college degree is very expensive, so economic investment in the present will lead to profitable outcomes in the future with respect to jobs. Nowadays there are number of college degrees that one can opt for but the following degrees must be kept in mind in terms of low earning.
Useless College Degrees With Low Earning Potential
These college degrees with the worst return on investment should be avoided to prevent any regret.
- Social Workers
There are numbers of ups and downs in life of every individual, so services of social workers are required. Although it is a prestigious profession, but it has low earning power.
- A Social Worker earns an average salary of $41,159 per year.
- A lot of social workers are employed in orphanages and old homes to boost their functionality for everyday life.
- They also help them by providing psychological services.
- Social workers wok to enable people overcome the difficulties like addiction, unemployment and educational issues.
The need of social workers is dependent on the type of area and circumstances of the region. If the individual is motivated by the desire to help people, then only he/she should opt for this degree. Otherwise in long run it would not lead to satisfactory results.
- Fine Arts/ Artist
Few decades’ back fine arts degree was the least valuable, but as the trend is changing this field is also getting attention. But still there is no comparison between fine art degree and other science professions. Once it was thought that those who opted for this degree are individual are one who want escape from studies. In order to build a successful career in this field requires a long time span, as well as considerable amount of investment. Depending upon the experience their salary may vary. A Fine Artist including a painter has an average pay of $40,000- $60,000 per year.
- Philosophy
Philosophy is a profession in which there is no absolute agreement on one particular answer to basic issues of philosophy, for example there might be no one specific answer to do humans possess free will. It is a debatable subject. Although this field has contributed a lot in improving the general understanding of variety of philosophical issues but still it is a low earning degree. By pursuing a degree in philosophy one can get their love for philosophy fulfilled but an individual may be restricted in terms of earning capacity.
- Education (Teaching)
Teaching is very respectable profession. This profession is the central core of all other discipline. In this field, professionals try their best to educate and transfer their knowledge to upcoming generations. It is the base for preparing the future doctors, software engineers etc.
Why Education Is Less Paying College Degree?
Unfortunately, teachers are not rewarded according to their contribution to society.
- Especially primary and secondary school teachers have very low salaries as compared to other professionals of the same post.
- There is a need for teacher everywhere, so nobody doesn’t bother to give them high salaries.
- The average annual salary for this degree is $56,000 which is literally very less.
- This salary is extremely low that it is not possible to earn a respectful living in society.
- Photography and Newscaster
Getting a degree in photography can be an expensive investment. Individuals who enroll to get this degree are motivated by their interest in this field, but they usually need to consider a second option for living a luxurious life. Their salary varies around $55,500 per year. As photography is not something that must be studied in colleges to gain its insights. It is totally the game of passion, skills, and desire. So, investing in photography is costly however the returns are cheap.
Similarly reading news is also a low-earning profession until and unless you are more towards journalism. Only journalist can earn high in this regard.
- Tourist Guides
Tour guides assist people on seeing the sights, educational or other tours, and describe the historical significance and points of interest to individuals. This degree is pursed by those who are motivated by passion to travel.
Although this job seems to be attractive in terms of visiting new places but it is least productive in term of salary.
- The average salary is around $35000.
- The tourist guide jobs have the lowest salaries because it’s not dependent on the knowledge level.
- Tourist guide jobs are seasonal and have irregular work. They have their employment in only specified months of the year, resulting in inconsistent work and low-salary jobs.
The Final Verdict
To conclude knowledge once acquired will not go in vain. Acquiring a degree in any discipline will increase our knowledge and will ultimately help us in one way or another. However,for earning a living in today’s competitive world, we need to look at the pros and cons of each degree. this will enable us to decide whether this degree will pay back in terms of satisfactory and comfortable living or not. One must do a deep research on the best college majors and the worst and useless degrees too.


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