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US Bachelor's Degrees With The Highest Return On Investment, Ranked

Which college bachelor's programs are actually worth the thousands of dollars they cost?

10 months ago · 100.4k reads ·

A college degree can be pretty damn expensive, so if you're going to spend thousands of dollars on higher education, you probably want it to pay off.

Taking into account debt repayments, graduate earnings and income potential, BrokeScholar compared 6,164 bachelor's degrees across 205 majors, and ranked them based on which have the highest return on investment (ROI).

Key Findings:

The college degree with the best ROI overall is computer science at Carnegie Mellon University, which has a relatively light debt burden and the best projected earnings score of any bachelor's program analyzed.
Overall, colleges in California and New York tend to pay off. Seven bachelor's degree programs in California and six in New York rank in the top 25 when it comes to getting a decent ROI.
Of the top ten degrees for high ROI, nine involve computer studies of some kind — including computer science, computer engineering and computer and information sciences.
Nursing looks like another smart choice, with bachelor's degrees in registered nursing also making several of the top 25 spots on the list. Nursing graduates can look forward to a good income and a bright outlook in terms of career opportunities and growth.

Via BrokeScholar.

Comments

Paul Begley 4 months ago

Where are the engineering degrees? Chemical, electrical, and other 'traditional' engineering students are in high demand, well paid, and have broad applications outside of traditional engineering companies.
I'm a chemical engineer who morphed into a systems engineer which has worked out very well.
Thoughts?
Justin Strouse 9 months ago

I have a computer science and computer security degree from East Stroudsburg University which is a PA state school. Paid about $3500 per year and I have been hired at positions over both Carnegie Melon and PSU grads. I wonder if school like this were included in the list?
j luke 10 months ago

I don't understand why they leave out law degrees and medical & dental degrees that pays much more...may be they are not just bachelor's
1. Richard Wilcox 10 months ago
  
  That probably is the main thing. Law and medical degrees are graduate degrees. Nursing is your corollary bachelor's medical degree, and it was mentioned. Cost to get the degree also plays a factor. Law and medical degrees are expensive, reducing ROI.
Dave Christian 10 months ago

Surprised that hard sciences such a chemistry, physics, biology, and mathematics are not in here. It looks like the best way to make money is to become a coder.
1. Chris Loungell 10 months ago
  
  Those degrees (generally) don't actually make very much money at the bachelor's level these days. They are so oversaturated that nobody wants to hire a bachelor's level physicist or biologist. In physics, chemistry, biology you need a graduate degree, preferably a PhD, to actually be competitive.
crowbone 10 months ago

Odd, not a single degree having to do with liberal arts.
1. alain pilon 10 months ago
  
  I guess you dont know what liberal arts actually includes. Maths are physics _are_ liberal arts.
  
  I get your point, and I dont think anyone expected a student in French renaissance art to be on the list. But there is more to life than money.
  1. The_Great_Skeeve 10 months ago
    
    I think you may be incorrect.
    
    https://universityhq.org/degrees/online-bachelors/difference-between-a-ba-vs-bs-degree/
  2. Jeff McWilliams 10 months ago
    
    While true, not being broke, or having to live paycheck to paycheck, or worried about how you're gonna pay for basic healthcare can go a LONG ways towards being happy.