It sucks to be broke after college. Chances are that you’re in this position or someone you know is.
Just the other day we went over how you can land the big paycheck after college. The formula involved enrolling in a program that has a history of paying well. Instead of focusing on frugality or trying to extend your college run, you could simply find a program that has a track record of paying well after college.
What about the flip side?
How will you be broke guaranteed after college?
Does it involve student credit cards? What about not working in college? Nope.
The sure-fire way to be broke as a joke after college is to pick up massive debt in the form of student loans to earn a degree that just doesn’t provide lucrative for work opportunities. In other words, earning a general degree with insane debt, just isn’t worth it. Not being able to find work or finding a job that doesn’t crappy money, while owing tens of thousands of dollars will land you in the poor house.
How will you pay the student loans off?
You can check out how I managed to graduate debt-free if you want more help on being not-broke after college. I wanted to get into something else for now…
What’s the worst undergrad degree by salary?
After looking into the best salaries for college graduates, I was curious to see what the worst salaries were. Who’s making the little bucks?
According to PayScale I found the following numbers on salaries after college:
Child and Family Studies has a starting median pay of $29,600.
Theology isn’t the worst but it ranks at number 10 with a starting media salary of $35,600.
Social Work has a starting median pay of $32,200.
Is the sky falling if my major doesn’t pay well?
First of all, there’s nothing wrong with going after a job that you love or want to do for the rest of your life. It’s not the end of the world if you don’t make huge money in your field. The world needs more people who are happy with what they do and not miserable after work. There’s nothing more annoying than a buddy that spends a Friday night drinking session complaining about work. Chances are they won’t be invited next weekend.
There are also many ways to accumulate wealth. You don’t have to make a ton of money in your field. You can start a side business, save your money well, find a partner that makes good money, or be a minimalist. I’m not here to tell you what to do. How you want to live your life is totally up to you.
If there’s one piece of advice that you pick up from this piece, it’s that you shouldn’t take on massive student loans to earn a degree that doesn’t pay well. The math just doesn’t add up. I don’t think you want to spend your 20s and possibly 30s stressing about debt. This will make it impossible to travel the world or do anything remotely fun.
I originally studied to be a teacher, and here in the States, teacher pay can be pretty pathetic. In some locales, starting pay is BELOW the poverty line.
What? It’s always funny to hear stuff like that because in Canada teachers are paid well. Teachers make very good money and it’s pretty challenging to even become one. What made you change your mind?
Basically it boils down to realizing it good fit for me. I love teaching, but classroom discipline is not my strong suit.