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The worthless degrees that add nothing to your pay
Last updated at 14:37pm on 07.09.07Graduates with degrees in accountancy will earn almost double in their lifetime than their counterparts with an arts degree, research suggests.
Despite spending thousands on their higher education, some arts graduates are no better off than if they had only taken A-levels, a study by the Institute of Education reveals.
Only women with politics degrees could find themselves worse off than those with arts qualifications.
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Accountancy graduates can earn almost double in their lifetime than counterparts with an arts degree
But accountancy graduates gained the most financially, earning up to 40 per cent more than arts graduates.
The study, presented at a conference of theBritish Educational Research Association in London today, blames a surplus of graduates, particularly in the arts.
In the Eighties only five per cent of the UK workforce had a degree but now almost one in four people is a graduate.
Latest figures from PricewaterhouseCoopers show that the average university graduate earns £160,000 more between the ages of 21 and 60 than someone with A-levels alone.
Reader views (2)
So some degrees don't earn you as much money over your lifetime as others. Who cares?! Most people go to uni to decide what they want to do in life and study an interesting subject. After all its the only real time in your life where you are relatively free to do what you want to do, not what you have to. Moreover you learn skills and responsibilities helping to bridge the gap between 'spoon fed' education and the reality of life!
- Nadiye, South London
So the average graduate earns an extra £160K over 40 years? Once you've deducted the cost of a degree, plus the loss of potential earnings during those study years, the net total works out at around £100K, which is £50 per week!
My advice to anyone with good A Levels is only go to University if your chosen subject is essential to the development of a particular career.
- Andrew, London
