A study was recently published, on May 7,2026, talking about whether a college degree will pay off in the long run or not. The study was conducted on close to one million undergraduates. In the study it found that the outcome greatly depended on many factors including whether the student graduated or not, according to The Washington Post.
When Lydia Samuelson, an 8th grader at Cannon Falls Middle School, was asked whether or not she wanted to go to college or not as of now, she responded with “I want to be a pediatric rheumatologist“. Pediatric rheumatologists are experts in evaluating and treating children with autoimmune and autoinflammatory disorders, according to Mayo Clinic. When another 8th grader was asked whether or not she wanted to go to college at this point, it was an easy question to answer, she replied with “I want to go to the University of Minnesota to become a Meteorologist”. When two eighth graders are asked what they want to go to college for and immediately respond, it shows that thinking about college at a young age is not uncommon. It is something that lots of kids have already been thinking about so it is important to know what is going to pay off in the future.
The pay off greatly depended on the degree, major, whether the student completed the program or not, demographics of the students and the quality of the institute the students went to. In the study it stated that students who were seeking a degree in engineering and architecture, business and economics, and security and protective services had the largest payoffs. While students seeking a degree in liberal arts, recreation and fitness studies, and social science saw the poorest returns. Though seeking a degree in liberal arts and the other low return degrees may not have the best payouts, the study did say that all bachelor degrees completed will end up paying off what was spent on school in a maximum of fifteen years, according to The Washington Post.
Not all children and adolescents want to go to college though. When Blake Stark, a student at Cannon Falls Middle School, was asked about whether or not he wanted to go to college he said “No, I want to get a job in construction or something”. Working in construction would be a great option; construction, engineering and other technical field work tends to pay higher than liberal arts. In fact, construction is one of the only eleven types of certificate programs that will pay off within five years, according to The Washington Post. As stated before liberal arts requires a bachelor’s degree to pursue so it is not required to get a bachelor degree to get a job that will pay off within fifteen years.
In all, the study proved that previous studies that talked about a similar thing were correct, this study just went more in depth. Now The Education Department is looking for public opinions on new regulations that would cut off federal student loans to students seeking a career in a lower earning degree. Those bachelors degrees that new regulations would be targeting are the ones that lead to jobs that earn less than what a student with a high school diploma was earning, according to The Washington Post. There are many pathways to take after high school though; there are no limits saying you have to go to college. Similar to how Blake Stark is planning on becoming a construction worker which isn’t a profession you need to go to college for, while on the other hand Lydia Samuelson is planning on going to college. So there is no correct answer on what to do, it is a personal decision.