On October 7, The New York Times published an interactive guide by Arfa Momin and Ron Lieber that lets families look up college major earnings: what graduates of specific majors at specific colleges earn four years after finishing. The spread is striking. The median across all programs is about $64,500, while a handful of programs top $250,000.
The takeaway? The combination of college and major matters, not just the name on the sweatshirt. Here’s why that matters for test prep:
Top programs are competitive. High-paying fields like engineering, computer science and mathematics often sit inside selective schools or have their own admissions bar. Strong SAT or ACT math scores signal readiness for that coursework.
Scores can cut costs. What you pay matters as much as what you earn, and many colleges award merit scholarships based partly on test scores.
Start with the end in mind. Explore the guide with your student before building a college list, then set a target score that fits the programs they want.
One caveat: the data cover only students who received federal financial aid and exclude those who went on to graduate school, so treat it as one input, not the whole picture.
Quick answers about college major earnings
College major earnings vary widely. In the HEA Group analysis behind the guide, median earnings four years after graduation were about $64,500 across all programs, while a handful, mostly in computer science, engineering and math at highly selective colleges, topped $250,000.
The HEA Group, a higher education research firm, analyzed federal IRS earnings data for graduates of the 2017–18 and 2018–19 school years.
Not always. Music majors from the prestigious Juilliard School had median earnings of $32,842, below music graduates of Sonoma State ($65,533) and Texas’s Tarleton State ($56,671).
Ready to build a plan? Contact Woodlands Test Prep to map out your student’s SAT or ACT strategy.