There is a great deal of cynicism about the value of a collegiate degree these days, as unemployment soars and many people, even those with higher-level education, find themselves unable to find meaningful work. While an English or Theater degree may be less valuable than the student would have hoped for, the good news is that an engineering degree can be worth every penny put into a person’s education. The number of engineers in today’s society are far lower than the current demand for their services, making it not only easy for job placement, but also for picking and choosing where you would like to work.
The Money Talks
The National Association of Colleges and Employers suggests that there are few degrees that are more valuable to a student than engineering itself. Four out of the five highest paid majors go to engineers, with petroleum engineering topping the scales at an average paycheck of one hundred thousand dollars for an entry-level position!
While a degree in computer engineering does not pay six figures, it is still possible to earn over fifty thousand dollars per year upon graduation. What’s more, this value is sure to increase over the course of an entire career. For a person who works for forty years, an engineering degree will provide half a million dollars more in salary than a person with just a high school education.
The Reason For the Pay
Why are engineering degrees and educational paths so much more valuable than other professions? The answer is simple; it is a case of supply and demand. Fewer and fewer students are going into engineering in all forms, with only five percent of all graduates holding these golden degrees.
In the United States, this imbalance is especially profound. Other industrialized nations like Germany and Japan suffer from far more competition, with as many as one third of all students graduating with engineering degrees, but in the United States this particular career path is much more rarely taken. Engineering jobs are continually becoming available worldwide, such as the number of jobs that went into engineering at the Olympics every four years.
How Much Should You Pay For a Degree?
If you go to a major, well-respected technological university, you could realistically expect to pay about two hundred thousand dollars for a five-year engineering degree. This kind of debt can keep a person in tuition bills for much of their life, even if their highly regarded degree gives them favorable job placement for a firm. For a state school, however, you may pay only about ten thousand dollars per year for tuition (that figure is about double for out-of-state tuition). This figure, however, does not include books, housing, fees, or other sums like parking.
How to Pay For the Education
Student loans have now eclipsed credit card debt as the number one source of owed money in the United States. For those who want to pursue a degree in engineering, it may be necessary to take on significant debt in order to pursue a high-profile career. For those who want to start a career, move to a new city, or purchase a house, it may be extremely difficult if they have several figures worth of student loan debt.
It is far better to get a type of aid for your education and reduce the payments as much as you are able to over the course of your schooling. Since nearly all engineering degrees require five years of study, the financial commitment is even greater. The good news is that the final year is usually spent in a co-op program where the student will earn money, so that it is not always necessary to take out loans for the final year of schooling.
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Author Bio
William Stevens is a blogger who creates informative articles relating to engineering. In this article, he explains the financial situation around a degree in this field and aims to encourage continued study with a master of engineering in civil engineering.