Salary Data--How much does a degree help you?

Ever wondered how much a degree might be worth as far as salary is concerned?  It matters, I know it does!  The sciences can be fascinating and fulfilling but usually there are bills to be paid too.  The California Community Colleges Chancellor’s office is making comparative information about the earnings of recent grads available for you to examine at their Salary Surfer website.  The office uses the aggregated earnings of graduates to make estimates of potential wages.  For more information about the data and their methodology the Chancellor’s office provided documentation, and a contact email:  salarysurfer@cccco.edu.

Being the curious type, I took a look at the data available for a few disciplines—Biological Sciences, Environmental Sciences and Technologies, and English.  The website offers wage data and also the availability of a given program in the California Community Colleges system.

Three Biological Sciences program possibilities with wage data were listed:  General Biology Degree, Biotechnology and Biomedical Technology Degree, and Biotechnology and Biomedical Technology Certificate.  Many more programs had information about colleges offering the programs, but did not have any information on wages.  The potential wage data suggest that a degree in General Biology can boost annual wages from $16,655 to $51,041, and a degree in Biotechnology and Biomedical Technology can boost annual wages from $18,821 to $59,603.  Pretty interesting stuff!

On the Environmental Sciences and Technologies side, only one program had wage data:  Environmental Technology.  The potential wage data suggest that this degree will boost annual wages from $37,705 to $53,214.  As always, your mileage may vary, but it is very useful to be able to do some comparison shopping when it is time to make life decisions.  

I thought I would compare these numbers with a non-science field so I took a look at an English degree. The numbers show there is a salary boost of $14,924 to $25,242 five years after graduation.  Overall, median wages 5 years after an Associate Degree award in the vocational disciplines were $61,600 compared to $39,900 for the non-vocational associate degrees (see Methodology document "Framework for Tracking Wages"). This  information can be useful if you do not yet know what discipline you want to pursue.

The Salary Surfer documentation points out that there are nuances to their data and methodology, such as the data are only for completers who had not transferred to a four-year institution, and were older than 21 at the time of completion (this second filter is to avoid counting high-schoolers in the "2 years before category".  In addition, the occupation of the student is not indicated so that the wages may not always reflect a job that was influenced by the awarded degree/certificate.  

College experience has many benefits, not all of them financial.  Yet whether you are looking at college for the first time, or thinking about going back, it helps to know how your choices can help you in the years to come.

Thank you California Community Colleges!