August 6, 2008 9:30 AM

Getting the most (money) out of your education
Posted by Jesse Nunesat 9:30 AM

With financing becoming a major issue for college students, it may be a good time to think about what your financial outlook will be after you graduate. Are you racking up absurd amounts of debt for a degree that won't pay enough to cover your loan bills?

PayScale.com, a Seattle company that compiles salary data, has a new report that breaks down the earning potential for a variety of undergraduate degrees and colleges across the country.

The report looked at the median salary for "Starting Employees" (Defined as full-time workers with 5.5 years or less) and "Mid-Career Employees" (Full-time workers with 10 or more years experience).

The degrees that offer the highest median salaries are not surprising: They're mostly related to engineering, science, and other technical pursuits. Here are the top 10 "degrees that pay you back," ranked by the mid-career median salaries:

Undergraduate Major	Starting Median Salary	Mid-Career Median Salary
1) Chemical Engineering	$63,200	$107,000
2) Computer Engineering	$61,400	$105,000
3) Electrical Engineering	$60,900	$103,000
4) Aerospace Engineering	$57,700	$101,000
5) Economics	$50,100	$98,600
6) Physics	$50,300	$97,300
7) Computer Science	$55,900	$95,500
8) Industrial Engineering	$57,700	$94,700
9) Mechanical Engineering	$57,900	$93,600
10) Math	$45,400	$92,400

Some other rankings I found interesting: Philosophy ranked 17th (Starting: $39,900; Mid-career: $81,200), IT ranked 24th (Starting: $49,100; Mid-career: $74,800), Film ranked 29th (Starting: $37,900; Mid-career: $68,500), and Jounalism ranked 31st (Starting: $35,600; Mid-career: $66,700).

As for what schools have graduates making the most money mid-career, Dartmough College in Hanover, N.H., topped all US schools with a mid-career median salary of $134,000 for undergrads.

Other interesting tidbits from the report: Harvard graduates were shown to frequently enter non-profit positions, major state universities provide high value with median salaries of graduates in the top 5 in their states, and small liberal arts colleges provided graduates with median salaries competitive with major private research schools.

But back to the original point of this post: If you are racking up college debt and want to pay it off as quickly as possible once you enter the workforce, what colleges offer your best bet? We used the PayScale.com report to compile a list of top 10 New England schools that offer the highest median salary for "Starting Employees." Check it out here.

Are you worried about paying off your student loans once you graduate and enter the workforce? Are you currently using a strategy to tackle your student debt? Share your thoughts in our forums.