For Engineers, Higher Education Means Higher Salaries

Written on July 1, 2012
It’s no secret that engineering majors earn top starting salaries. Based upon 2011 – 2012 PayScale Salary Survey data for full-time U.S. employees with only a bachelor’s degree, nine of the top 10 starting salaries go to engineers.
Top Starting Salary Careers
  • Petroleum Engineering
  • Nuclear Engineering
  • Chemical Engineering
  • Computer Engineering
  • Electrical Engineering
  • Aerospace Engineering
  • Materials Science and Engineering
  • Mechanical Engineering
  • Industrial Engineering
Billionaire venture capitalist Peter Thiel made headlines recently by arguing that college is not worth the cost. He cited statistics indicating that only half of recent U.S. college graduates have secured full time jobs in the current market. He also argued that student loan debt is becoming disproportionately large when compared to salaries.
Student debt and unemployment statistics don’t change the long-term data on higher education. A U.S. Census Bureau report from 2002 titled “The Big Payoff: Educational Attainment and Synthetic Estimates of Work-Life Earnings” indicates that a person with only a high school diploma will earn an average of approximately $1.2 million over a lifetime of work. A person with a bachelor’s degree will earn an average of approximately $2.1 million. That is an additional 75 percent increase in earnings over a lifetime of work. These figures are certainly dated, but the wide margin still holds true today.
People with a master’s degree earn, on average, $2.5 million throughout a lifetime of employment. This represents a 19 percent increase in lifetime earnings over a Bachelor of Science degree, and many engineers are asking themselves if the additional time and expense of obtaining a Master of Science degree is really worthwhile.
The answer is yes. It is worthwhile for multiple reasons. The first thing to consider is that the figures cited in the Census Bureau’s report are skewed. Those figures cover all employment. In engineering fields, the differences between bachelor’s degree salaries and master’s degree salaries are more significant and easily justify the cost.
There is also an opportunity cost associated with declining an advanced degree. Companies typically seek the most highly qualified engineers available when employment needs are filled, and engineering qualifications come from additional education. Talented engineers with only a bachelor’s degree will never be offered the same advancement opportunities presented to engineers holding a master’s degree.
The Summer 2012 edition of PRISM, published by the American Society for Engineering Education, examines the current heated debate over whether or not a Master of Science in Engineering should be adopted as the minimum educational requirement for engineers. Many employers and government agencies are pushing for this change.
Large numbers of engineers obtain employment with a bachelor’s degree to gain work experience and seek higher degrees through online programs while employed. The average growth in online master’s degrees overall was 79 percent during the last five years. The online Master of Science degree in various engineering disciplines accounted for a large part of that growth.
In addition to schools that always focused on online degrees, many of the best engineering schools in the country have now added respectable distance learning programs to their offerings. These programs allow students to hold down full-time employment while continuing their education through a virtual classroom.
Now is a great time to advance a career through an advanced engineering degree. A Master of Science credential will increase promotion potential and provide advanced knowledge in the subject area. Many employers even offer some type of continuing education benefit that pays a portion of tuition costs if the student earns a degree that benefits the company.


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