The Debt Trap: Majors Where Students Borrow the Most (and Earn the Least)

The Debt-to-Earnings Ratio

Debt is not inherently bad. The question is whether the credential you borrowed for produces enough income to pay back the loan on reasonable terms. A useful yardstick: a debt-to-annual-earnings ratio above 0.5 means it will take more than six months of gross income just to eliminate the debt. Above 1.0 means the debt exceeds an entire year's earnings.

This analysis uses College Scorecard data on median debt at graduation and median earnings four years after graduation -- long enough for most students to have settled into a stable career track.

The majors with the worst ratios are not the ones students typically think of as risky. They are common majors at mainstream universities, enrolled in by hundreds of thousands of students every year.

The Rankings: Worst to Best Debt-to-Earnings Ratio

Several things jump out. First, the debt amounts are surprisingly similar across all majors. The median student borrowing for Drama and the median student borrowing for Computer Science take on roughly the same amount of debt -- within $2,000 of each other. The debt market does not discriminate by major. The labor market does.

Second, Nursing borrows slightly more than CS and earns less at four years, but the earnings trajectory is strong and predictable. The 0.38 ratio is manageable. Drama at 0.84 is not.

Third, Psychology is the hidden problem in this dataset. It is the most common major in America, with 926 schools reporting Psychology data. The median graduate earns $42,334 at four years out. That is $17,000 per year less than the median Business Administration graduate, at essentially the same debt level.

The Worst Individual Cases

System-level medians obscure the real danger: students at specific schools taking on specific amounts of debt in specific majors. The worst cases involve schools where institutional debt is high and earnings in that major are particularly low.

Fine and Studio Arts:

Otis College is the most extreme case in this dataset. Fine Arts graduates borrow a median of $30,875 and earn $13,917 four years out -- a ratio of 2.22. That means the median borrower owes more than two full years of their post-graduation salary before any living expenses. At standard loan repayment rates, these graduates are making minimum payments for years before reducing principal.

Drama/Theatre Arts:

Social Work:

Social Work at Grambling stands out: $49,736 in debt against $33,322 in annual earnings. The 1.49 ratio means the median Social Work graduate at Grambling owes almost 18 months of gross income on day one of their career. Social work as a profession carries a genuine service mission -- but that mission is not served by loading its practitioners with unmanageable debt.

The Best Cases: CS and Engineering

For contrast, here are the best outcomes among CS graduates across specific schools:

Carnegie Mellon CS graduates earn a median of $247,552 four years out -- $21,442 in debt against an income that would pay it off in about a month. The ratio of 0.09 is as close to a guaranteed sound investment as exists in the college data.

The caveat: these are the most selective schools in the country for CS. The population of graduates from these programs is not representative of average CS outcomes, and most applicants are not admitted.

The Psychology Problem

Psychology deserves specific attention because of its scale. It is among the three most common majors at American universities. Many students choose it as a default -- they like people, they are not sure what else to study, and the courses are accessible.

The data: median debt of $25,190, median four-year earnings of $42,334. That is not poverty, but it is below the national median household income for a single person. And it is the median -- half of Psychology graduates earn less than $42,334 at four years out.

Psychology as a pre-med track makes good financial sense. Psychology as a path to clinical licensure (which requires a master's or doctorate) makes sense if you complete the credential. Psychology as a terminal bachelor's degree, at a school with $25,000 in debt, at a tuition level that produces that debt, requires a clear-eyed look at the numbers.

What These Numbers Cannot Tell You

Earnings at four years are not final destinations. Drama graduates who build careers in production, casting, or entertainment marketing often outperform the four-year median by year ten. Fine arts graduates who land in UX/UI design or art direction in tech earn far more than the population average.

The issue is probability, not possibility. The median is the outcome for the middle of the distribution. Half of these graduates earn less. Choosing a major with a 0.84 debt-to-earnings ratio requires either a very specific plan that beats the median or a tolerance for financial stress that the median outcome produces.

The other factor the data does not capture is where you are working. A Psychology graduate in New York City or San Francisco will earn more than the national median. A Drama graduate who books a SAG-AFTRA contract will, eventually, earn substantially more than $29,662. But the data describes what happens to the majority. It does not describe the best case.

Practical Implications

If you are choosing a major with a high debt-to-earnings ratio, three things reduce the risk:

Keep debt low. The ratio problem is worst when debt is high. A Drama major who attends a school that costs $8,000 per year in net price and graduates with $12,000 in debt has a very different financial situation than one who borrows $30,000 at a conservatory.

Graduate. The worst outcomes in this dataset are dominated by students who did not complete their degrees but did accumulate debt. A partial credential in Fine Arts has essentially no labor market return.

Identify the specific job. "I love the subject" is not a plan. "I am studying theatre with the intent to become a casting director" is a plan that has specific job titles, entry-level salaries, and hiring pathways that can be evaluated against the debt.

Methodology

Debt and earnings data from College Scorecard 2023-24 by CIP code. Median debt represents federal loan borrowing at graduation. Earnings represent median wages four years after graduation for graduates who received federal financial aid. Majors analyzed represent the largest enrollment CIP codes with at least 10 schools reporting complete data. Debt-to-earnings ratio calculated as median debt divided by median 4-year earnings.

*Search debt and earnings outcomes by major at any school at CollegeBound.*