Angela Salinas / The Collegian
As a 16-year-old high school student, Renae Chavez was enthralled by her teacher Ms. Reese’s animated account of World War II. Each lecture was always the highlight of her day. It was in this class that Chavez was hit with an all-encompassing realization.
Someday she, too, wanted to be a high school history teacher.
“She made the whole class want to do better,” Chavez said. “It really made me want to help encourage others to appreciate history more.”
But after experiencing this proverbial “ah-hah” moment, the history major said she had an epiphany of uncertainty in her decision after learning the average annual income of history graduates.
In a 2010-2011 College Salary Report conducted by PayScale.com, the areas of social science, fine arts and early education were among the least profitable college degrees; each averaging around $31,600 to $38,100 for starting median pay.
“It’s kind of discouraging because everyone needs to make a living and they want to do well in life with their job,” Chavez said. “But if you plan on going into teaching, you have to know it’s more about the cause than the money.”
While graduates in theater and criminal justice begin earning anywhere up to $35,600 annually, the report illustrates a much different standing for careers that involve science and mathematics.
One of the most prominent and lucrative careers listed in the report is engineering, an area that Interim Dean of Lyles College of Engineering Dr. Ramakrishna Nunna said is gradually attracting more students to Fresno State’s nationally accredited programs.
“This fall, our enrollment exceeded our target by almost seven percent,” Nunna said.
Nunna believes that the number of students graduating with an engineering degree may play a role in the field’s affluence.
“Much of this has to do with the supply and demand and the exponential growth in demand for greater services whether it is infrastructure, technology, transportation, new materials, energy, etc.,” Nunna said. “However, the demand across all the engineering segments of the industry far exceeds the number of graduates.”
With a starting wage of $60,800 a year and an average pay of $108,000 over time, the electrical engineering salary is a far cry from the $29,500 starting for the Child and Family Studies discipline. Something that the Department Chair of Child, Family and Consumer Sciences Dr. Marianne Jones finds to be a harsh reality for those interested in pursuing a career in this area.
“The younger the child, the less valued,” Jones said. “The younger the child that the individual works with, the less the position is valued.”
“We talk about the value of family, we talk about the importance of children as our future, but we don’t put our money where our mouth is,” Jones said.
However, Jones said that the department is one of the largest at the university, and about 80 percent of its students are focusing on early child development demonstrating that regardless of the value our society places on the dollar, there are other important factors to consider when choosing a desired major.
“There are many people who choose careers solely on the basis of what does it feel like when I look at myself in the mirror in terms of what I’m giving to the world,” Jones said. “And thank goodness for people like that.”
For more information on a specific degree, check out http://www.payscale.com
