As debt and tuition continue to rise, many students are content to believe higher education pays off; but few are willing to ask, “By how much?”

Not all degrees are created equal. Some lead to jobs that pay more than others, and some of those jobs are easier to find given the right skill set. Those in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) are in the right place to start when it comes to paying off student loans.

The job market has been in decline for the past decade. With the United States facing a government shutdown, many students – even those in the best of circumstances – will have difficulty finding a job suited to their education. Overwhelming debts will be the icing on the cake.

Despite a widespread, ongoing struggle to find employment in the U.S., many of the country’s jobs are left unfilled, according to U.S. News. Apparently, many in the U.S. lack the skills required to obtain jobs in STEM fields. The jobs are available, but there are not enough qualified applicants to fill them.

The National Math and Science Initiative projects that by 2018, 92 percent of traditional STEM jobs will be available for those with the right education and training. It said mass retirement of STEM professionals, combined with growth in computer systems design and related services, will leave the U.S. short three million workers in the field.

STEM jobs tend to pay more than non-STEM jobs, but, as an academic endeavor, STEM is no different from other disciplines. In any case, it’s a student’s specific area of interest that has an impact on his or her salary. A job in mechanical engineering, for instance, might pay more than one in marine biology. Likewise, a successful business administration major is likely to make big bucks after graduation.

According to the NMS, the U.S. has seen a drop in research activity as increasingly fewer students major in STEM fields. It said more than half of U.S. patents in 2009 were awarded to non-U.S. companies.

Research attracts substantial amounts of capital, which means large profits for STEM companies and high wages for their employees. According to the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists, the average pharmaceutical scientist in the U.S. makes $138,400 per year, with $22,800 in supplemental income.

The country’s lack of technically skilled STEM professionals has shrunk its capacity for research. This, inevitably, will have long-term consequences. If STEM companies don’t fill jobs, unemployment will rise again and the nation’s economy will shrivel.

According to the Huffington Post, positions in computing will comprise 71 percent of the STEM workforce in 2018, but growth in other areas is expected as well. Engineering will account for 16 percent; physical sciences, 7 percent; and life sciences, 4 percent. Mathematics will come in last at two percent of the STEM workforce.

An expected eight million STEM jobs will be available in 2018, according to the Huffington Post. Students graduating with the skills those jobs require will account for less than half that number. That’s math anyone can do.

A major problem of STEM fields is a general loss of interest among high school students. According to CBS News, 61 percent of high schoolers in 2012 indicated a strong interest in STEM or medical fields, but in 2013 that number plummeted to 46 percent.

STEM fields present a number of challenges, which tend to scare students away – difficult, tedious work; fear of failure; etc. It’s too easy for them to walk away after taking a general math or chemistry course, settling on other majors for the sake of their GPAs.

Perhaps English is more appealing than, say, astrophysics, but it certainly isn’t as marketable. Higher education ought to be taken seriously and made worth every penny. A diploma doesn’t look so pretty when there are loans to be paid and an entry-level bartending job to pay them.

Incoming college students should be careful in picking majors. Granted, it’s hard to dredge up enough motivation to struggle through high-level STEM courses, but that should not stop students from trying.

It’s important to pursue one’s dreams, but doing so isn’t easy without a reasonable paycheck.

-Corrine Harris is a senior animal science major from Edmonds. She can be contacted at 335-2290 or by [email protected]. The opinions expressed in this column are not necessarily those of the staff of The Daily Evergreen or those of Student Publications.