Rethinking College: Choose The Path, Not Just The Degree

Our previous work examined the forces creating fiscal pressure on higher education, the divide between “Elites” and “Pragmatics,” and whether pursuing a degree makes financial sense. This is Part IV, about making prudent choices if one decides to pursue higher education.

Colleges and the media have applauded the surge of underprepared students entering college, often treating capability and merit as though they should play little or no role in admission. They call this expansion “inclusion” and “equal access,” cheering as though the doors of an exclusive country club have finally been thrown open to those long denied entry. Perhaps if colleges were required to cosign the loans their students take out to pay soaring tuition, they would view this trend differently.

Millions of Americans have been left with student-loan debt that can hamstring them for decades, even after earning a diploma. For some, college was the worst financial decision they ever made. This does not mean a degree is always a bad choice. It means the decision should be made analytically, with a clear understanding of both its potential benefits and risks.

Finding Your Passion

At most universities, students are encouraged to “find their passion,” as if it is a mystical creature that, once discovered, will automatically produce a fun, effortless education and a high-paying career. This advice often comes with several other misconceptions.

Students may be led to believe that studying something they love will never feel like work, that passion is innate rather than developed, or that difficulty with a subject means they have chosen the wrong field. They may also assume that pursuing a passion will automatically lead to a well-paying career because the success stories most often reported reinforce that impression.

The “find your passion” trope can distract students from considerations with far greater consequences for their financial futures.

Many articles, often promoted by colleges themselves, emphasize the lifetime earnings difference between people with and without degrees. That generalization may hold on average, but it obscures an important reality: not all college degrees produce the same economic return. Students are too often given the impression that their prospects will be essentially indistinguishable whether their “passion” is recreational sports management or chemical engineering — as long as it produces a degree. Employment data tell us otherwise.

With the proliferation of majors and the soaring cost of higher education, choosing the right major has become more important than ever. The earnings premium associated with a degree is not guaranteed and may be surprisingly small or nonexistent for some. Graduation is the beginning of a career journey, not its destination.

Selecting a major should therefore involve more than identifying a student’s interests. It should also assess the time and money required to earn the degree and whether that investment is likely to produce skills employers value.

Major Matters

As society becomes increasingly technology- and information-driven, scalable skills that are difficult to replicate tend to command higher premiums. Consider science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields. STEM graduates generally enter the workforce more quickly, earn higher starting salaries, experience stronger earnings growth, and are four times less likely to default on student loans than non-STEM graduates. By contrast, occupations that depend more heavily on labor that is difficult to scale can offer substantially lower economic returns, particularly when the educational investment required to enter the field is significant.

Consider a non-STEM major like psychology. It has ranked among the five most popular majors over the past few decades. But popularity does not necessarily translate into strong demand or high compensation for the skills a bachelor’s degree provides. In 2026, psychology majors averaged $40k per year for starting salaries, with a 5-year salary typically reaching $52k. Many professional positions in this field require additional education and credentials. A student may invest four or more years and substantial sums in a psychology degree, only to discover that it does not qualify them for the career they envisioned.

Too many students confront these realities only after spending years pursuing a degree and borrowing significant amounts of money. When employment prospects prove weaker than expected, they often double down, pursuing a master’s degree in the same field without asking whether the additional investment will produce an adequate return. The result can be six or more years of higher education, substantial debt, and job prospects not much better than those available to someone entering the workforce straight out of high school.

Economic outcomes vary substantially by field. NACE Class of 2024 data show an average starting salary of $101,661 for computer science graduates, compared with $43,639 for graduates in fine and studio arts — a difference of more than $58,000 annually. Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce reports median earnings of approximately $98,000 for prime-age workers with bachelor’s degrees in STEM fields, compared with approximately $58,000 for those in education and public-service fields. This disparity persists even when STEM graduates are employed in non-STEM occupations, as most do.

The broader lesson is clear: a college degree does not confer prosperity by itself. Marketable, advanced skills do. Their value depends on how scarce they are and how much employers are willing to pay.

This is not an argument against majoring in psychology or any field. Nor does it mean students should abandon their interests or choose a major based solely on salary. Students should, however, understand the economic consequences of their choices. They should ask: What am I good at? What valuable skills can I develop? How much will they cost to acquire? And what am I likely to earn after graduation?

Those questions may be less romantic than “find your passion,” but they are more likely to help a young person build a career without turning college into an expensive financial mistake.

Community College

Prospective students focused on cost and value should take a second look at community colleges. Historically, community colleges, more commonly known as junior colleges, focused on providing the first two years of a traditional college education. They have since become comprehensive institutions offering transfer education, vocational and technical training, industry credentials, workforce development, adult education, dual enrollment, online programs, and increasingly, four-year bachelor’s degrees of their own.

Today’s institutions offer lower-cost, flexible alternatives to four-year universities, including smaller classes, evening, weekend, and online options, and the ability to live at home. They also provide short-term certificates, career-focused training and employer-connected programs that can lead directly to employment or provide an affordable transfer pathway to a bachelor’s degree.

Their occupational programs are designed to prepare students for specific careers, including nursing and other health services, welding, HVAC, cybersecurity, computer networking, construction, and manufacturing.

Cost is another major advantage. Average tuition and fees are $4,150 per year for in-district community-college students, compared with $11,950 at a public four-year college for in-state students and $45,000 at a private nonprofit four-year college. As of 2026, roughly 35 states have programs that make community college tuition-free for at least some students, although eligibility requirements vary.

A value-conscious student could complete the first two years of a bachelor’s degree at substantially lower cost, especially while living at home. Others might complete a bachelor’s degree at one of the growing number of community colleges offering four-year bachelor’s degrees. Still others could earn, in two years or less, the credential needed to enter a professional occupation or skilled trade. Some of these careers offer median salaries reaching six figures, particularly in health care.

Federal College Scorecard data show that earnings for holders of some community-college degrees and certificates can exceed those of many bachelor’s-degree holders.

The Larger Lesson

The conventional college decision is framed too narrowly: Should I go to college or not? That is only the first question.

Students who pursue higher education should also ask: What should I study? Too often, students answer this question by enrolling in a school and taking various courses until they find an area that interests them and in which they perform well. Many never get to the follow-up questions: What skills and employment opportunities will this investment produce? How much is prudent to spend on this degree? And where should I study?

Rather than assuming college is always the best path and then encouraging students to “find their passion,” families should begin with the desired destination and work backward. What career is the student considering? What skills and credentials does it require? What will they cost? What are the expected earnings? Are there less expensive or less risky ways to reach the same destination?

For some students, the answer will be a four-year university, perhaps in a STEM or other high-demand field. For others, it may be a community college, short-term credential, or skilled trade. For still others, the wisest choice may be the workforce, military, public service, or another path that does not require a traditional degree.

The point is not to steer every young person away from college. It is to stop steering every young person toward the same version of college.

Higher education can be an extraordinary investment, but its value depends on what students pay, what they receive and what they ultimately do with it. The goal should not simply be to earn a degree. It should be to build a future.

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Greg Salsbury, Ph.D., serves on the Board of Advisors for STARRS.US and is the former president of Western Colorado University. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Southern California, an M.A. from the University of Illinois, and an M.A. from the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at USC.

John Kawauchi, MBA, is a former VP of Enrollment Management and Marketing at Western Colorado University and Lake Superior State University, after spending most of his career in Retirement Planning and Product Marketing in the Financial Services industry. He earned his MBA from the University of Chicago and a B.S. from Cornell University.

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