The higher education system in the United States is totally broken.

The evidence-college graduate who can't pay back the student loans with the degrees they have.

The solution-make a group of major ineligible for student loans. If a student wants to major in those fields they pay for their own education.

Journalism should be at the top of the list. Here are the stats that tell the story.

1, Journalism
AP Photo
Median starting salary: $35,800

Median mid-career salary: $66,600

Change in number of jobs, 2008-2018: -4,400

Percentage Change in number of jobs, 2008-2018: -6.32

Undergraduate field of study: Communications

Number of students awarded degrees 2008-2009:: 78,009

So 78,000 graduates received degrees in journalism for a field that not only isn't growing but is shrinking by over 6% and lost 4,400 jobs across the nation.

We need to quit subsidizing journalism degrees as soon as possible.

Another degree that no longer warrants federal loan status.

2, Horticulture
Median starting salary: $35,000

Median mid-career salary: $50,800

Change in number of jobs, 2008-2018: -15,200

Percentage Change in number of jobs, 2008-2018: -1.74

Undergraduate field of study: Agriculture and natural resources

Number of students awarded degrees 2008-2009:: 24,988

So almost 25,000 students graduated with horticulture degrees and found that there will be 15,000+ fewer jobs in horticulture over the next decade.

No more student loan money for horticulture degrees.

3, Agriculture
Median starting salary: $42,300

Median mid-career salary: $59,700

Change in number of jobs, 2008-2018: -9,100

Percentage Change in number of jobs, 2008-2018: -0.88

Undergraduate field of study: Agriculture and natural resources

Number of students awarded degrees 2008-2009:: 24,988

25,000 degrees awarded in just one year for a field of employment that will lose almost 1,000 jobs a year for the next decade.

4, Advertising

Median starting salary: $37,800

Median mid-career salary: $73,200

Change in number of jobs, 2008-2018: -800

Percentage Change in number of jobs, 2008-2018: -1.71

Undergraduate field of study: Communications

Number of students awarded degrees 2008-2009:: 78,009

Like we need our tax money paying to educate more advertisers. Eliminate loan money for advertising majors. 78,000 annual degrees in advertising in an industry with negative job growth.

In those four majors alone there are 200,000 students graduating with degrees into career paths with negative overall job growth.
The only people who benefit from this situation are professors who teach journalism, advertising, horticulture, and agriculture.

No one is saying to discontinue the majors.

Simply end their eligibility for federal loans funded by taxpayer dollars.
If students want to get degrees in these fields then let them pay their own way.

There isn't a shortage of advertisers.
There isn't a shortage of journalists.
There isn't a shortage of .................

Get tax payer money out of losing propositions run by disinterested bureaucrats who aren't any smarter than the rest of us.

For all you college students (and high school students planning on going to college) -

TC is making an important point. A college degree is not a sure path to success in life any more. Do not listen to people who tell you it is only important to go to college and that it doesn't matter what you study - they're full of it. If you want to be financially secure in life and not subject to the whims of The Elite, don't even bother getting a liberal arts degree.

I'm not saying "don't go to college", although there are many people who will say exactly that (and they will have a point). I'm saying "learn something someone is willing to pay you for". If you don't, you might end up like me (BA - History) - a (relatively) broke, undisciplined, and self-indulgent loser who Mr. Chew - in his infinite wisdom - has muted.

Here are the top ten majors by earning potential (I know this isn't going to format right - perhaps if I'd gotten a more useful degree and tried not to be such a lazy bum, I would find some way to get it to look good):
STARTING MEDIAN PAY MID-CAREER MEDIAN PAY
Petroleum Engineering $97,900 $155,000
Chemical Engineering $64,500 $109,000
Electrical Engineering (EE) $61,300 $103,000
Materials Science & Engineering $60,400 $103,000
Aerospace Engineering $60,700 $102,000
Computer Engineering (CE) $61,800 $101,000
Physics $49,800 $101,000
Applied Mathematics $52,600 $98,600
Computer Science (CS) $56,600 $97,900
Nuclear Engineering $65,100 $97,800

Compare it to the list Mr. Chew is giving us of low-paying majors in dying fields, which pay what are essentially poverty wages. I hope you young whippersnappers will choose better than I did.

I don't know if you were cynical or not.

Wow I guess I'm emigrating to the US at some point then the numbers in my field don't look so bad =)

Redhouse: Immigrating. Emigrating is leaving the country.

Also @Tolstoy: Something seems wrong with that list. My fiance is an Aerospace Engineer who makes 20.000€ LESS than me (An International Marketing & Sales Manager).

Well, as long as you like and are good at those subjects. If you have a trashy GPA in college because you were trying to get a degree in Chemical Engineering and were terrible at chemistry, you'll probably make the same or less or might have the same or poorer career prospects than if you were good at economics or international relations and have a great one. Also, if you're bored by or hate the subject, even if you are good at it, you might not want to do it - its no good to have a mid life crisis. I'm not saying that looking at job growth/competition in the market/salary is a bad thing, but you just have to balance it with you're own interests.

5, Fashion Design

Median starting salary: $37,700

Median mid-career salary: $72,200

Change in number of jobs, 2008-2018: +200

Percentage Change in number of jobs, 2008-2018: +0.81

Undergraduate field of study: Visual and performing arts

Number of students awarded degrees 2008-2009:: 89,140

No way taxpayer money should pay for degrees in fashion designer.
90,000 graduates for 200 new jobs a year over the next decade?

90,000 more graduates unable to repay loans.
We are subsidizing professors who teach fashion design and nothing more.

6. Art History

Median starting salary: $39,400

Median mid-career salary: $57,100

Change in number of jobs, 2008-2018: +500

Percentage Change in number of jobs, 2008-2018: +11.46

Undergraduate field of study: Liberal arts and humanities

Number of students awarded degrees 2008-2009:: 47,096

We are borrowing money from foreign nations and running a trillion dollar deficit and loaning money to undergraduates so that almost 50,000 of them can graduate and compete to fill 200 new jobs a year.

The elite bureaucrats in the Department of Education will go down in history as some of the most incompetent human beings to ever walk the face of the earth.

@HerrBK - Redhouse is using 'emigrating' properly. He is considering emigrating to the US from his own country - he can't immigrate anywhere.

@TC - you speak some sense but how could a million or so potential students making individual decisions possibly hope to provide the right number of graduates into each proffession? Wouldn't it be better for engineering companies to plan on how many students they need and to fund those places - they are in the best position to know what is required. Firms that support educating the workforce can then be exempted from some taxation. The government can still fund some places and will probably have to get involved in how places are allocated but higher education could be funded almost exclusively by business and the resulting graduates would be the graduates industry needs.

Maniac, You miss my point completely.

The government should quit loaning money to the major I listed.

If a student wants to invest their money in the major let them.

The government should not take money from citizen A by taxing them, loan it to citizen B to purse a degree in a field like art history that leaves citizen B unemployed and unable to pay back the college loan.

There is no argument that justifies the government uses taxpayer money to fund worthless degrees.

The degrees are worthless because there are no jobs for the degree no holders.

Even worse the degree holders can't repay the loans they built up obtaining the worthless degrees.

Money doesn't grow on trees and we can't afford to take money from citizen A to pay for a worthless education for citizen B, who can't find a job to repay the loan.

If someone wants to major in art history and pay for it themselves without worrying about getting a job with that degree then more power to them.

The government should not be involved with Art history degrees at all.

Another way to fix America and its finances is to raise the retirement age for social security, but most of all for public employees who get to retire five to ten years earlier than comparable private sector employees.


Raise the retirement age for anyone under 55 immediately to 68 with a target of 70 with a target of indexing the retirement age to life expectancy.

According to various studies this would eliminate 33% of the deficit in social security.

If we don't the system goes bankrupt under the demographic pressure of baby boomers who began being born in 1946 and began retiring 65 years later in 2011.

Is there a more despicable thing government can do than make a promise that it has no ability to keep? Social Security is exactly the type of promise that government can't keep because it is a fiscally unsustainable ponzi scheme given America's current demographics.