Students are racking up monumental debts to get through college, and liberal arts major are finding it more difficult to pay off their loans because of limited earning potential, a new study shows.
Students who earn a business or engineering degree not only earn more money after they graduate but borrow less to start with than those majoring in history, English or another liberal arts field, according to a study by two professors at Wichita State University in Kansas and the University of Memphis in Tennessee.
"There are majors that do not map into jobs that pay highly enough to support the debt that students are incurring in those majors. So it's going to limit choices to majors if you want to pay off the loans, and every university is becoming more expensive," said Steven A. Harrast, an accounting professor at Wichita State and one of the co-authors.
"Eventually, there could come a time when you can't select a major unless you have the personal financial resources to pay for it."
The study of more than 10,000 University of Memphis baccalaureate graduates concludes that many students are amassing huge loans -- regardless of whether their chosen field will enable them to pay them off.
Theater and communication majors, for example, earned the least amount of money after three years in the workplace -- barely $30,000 on average -- but racked up some of the biggest student loans by graduation, an eye-popping average of $17,814.
Mechanical engineering students, on the other hand, borrowed relatively little -- $11,749 on average -- while earning an average of $46,182 three years after graduation.
"We're as surprised as everyone else about the findings," Harrast said.
"It seems to be flying in the face of economic theory. We need to do another study to try to get to the bottom of that issue."
The sobering news hasn't dimmed the hopes of recent graduate Nicole Cohen, who majored in communications at California State University, Northridge.
The 22-year-old Canoga Park woman incurred $26,000 in student loans -- a burden she attributes to a loss in credits when she switched to CSUN from a Louisiana college and working two jobs during her freshman year.
"It's really hard to pay attention to school when you're working full time," she said.
Cheryl Hanna, a CSUN microbiology major who amassed $15,000 in student debt by graduation, said science majors have an advantage over liberal arts students.
"With a science major, there's a more defined plan, maybe even a specific job in mind," said the 34-year-old Simi Valley woman, who recently landed a $40,000-a-year job with Amgen Inc., the biotechnology giant in Thousand Oaks.
"With a liberal arts degree, you can go out there and do anything."
The study also found that students with high grade-point averages tend to borrow less, possibly because they have "mature habits of self-control that also lead to control over finances," as well as being more likely to earn scholarships.
A C student at graduation might have $8,000 more debt than an A student, according to the study, which asserts that students accrue an average of $4,402 in debt each time they drop one grade-point.
Nationwide, student loans are on the rise.
The average student loan indebtedness for baccalaureate graduates from public universities more than doubled during the 1990s, from $6,449 in 1992-93 to $15,375 in 1999-2000, mainly due to changes in federal law that allow students to borrow as much as $46,000.
CSUN students graduate with an average debt of $13,500, said Kathryn J. Anderson, the university's director of financial aid.
College financial experts say students are taking out bigger loans to pay for school and using their savings and part-time salaries to pay off credit cards, buy cell phones, computers and cars.
"What is happening is, people are financing their lifestyles through college loans," said Doug Dolton, chief operating officer with Chela Financial. "Almost every student has a cell phone; almost every student today has a computer."
Adam Boyd, who recently earned a bachelor's degree in communications from CSUN, is bucking the trend. The 24-year-old Encino man borrowed less than $3,000 while in college and is looking forward to a $55,000-a-year job as a Los Angeles firefighter.
With the help of his parents and by working through the six years it took him to graduate, he managed to save money.
"I tried to keep it as low as I could," he said.
Harrast said students need to give more thought to their career choices early in their college career. Many universities, including Pepperdine and CSUN, are encouraging students to visit campus career centers as early as their freshman year so they can develop a realistic plan for post-graduation life.
"The solution is preventive, not curative," Harrast said. "You have to know and plan in advance. After you've gone through and done it, you just have to live with the consequences."