The Class of 2026 starting salary data from NACE shows a gap of more than $40,000 between the highest and lowest-paid disciplines at graduation. Computer science graduates are projected to earn average starting salaries of approximately $81,535; engineering graduates around $81,198. At the other end, education and social work graduates frequently start closer to $38,000 to $45,000, with fine arts and liberal arts often in similar territory.

FREOPP's research puts concrete ROI numbers on the gap: engineering degrees have a median lifetime ROI of roughly $949,000 — meaning graduates can expect their degree to add nearly a million dollars to lifetime earnings compared to not having it. Computer science delivers a median $652,000, nursing $619,000, economics $549,000. Fine arts, psychology, and education often produce modest or negative ROI — particularly when the degree is from a higher-cost private school. A bachelor's in psychology from Education Data Initiative's analysis shows an average ROI of negative 122%, representing an actual lifetime loss relative to the alternative.

These aren't arguments that high-debt, lower-paying majors are personal failures. They're structural observations about how higher education is priced relative to what careers in those fields pay.

Engineering, computer science, and nursing consistently appear at the top of debt-capacity rankings because they combine high starting salaries with strong employment rates and earnings growth over time. For these graduates, borrowing $60,000 to $80,000 remains within manageable ratios relative to income — a computer science graduate earning $81,000 can carry $81,000 in total debt and keep monthly payments on a 10-year plan at roughly 12% of gross income.

Business and economics graduates sit in a middle tier: starting salaries in the $55,000 to $70,000 range depending on concentration, with strong earnings growth potential for those who move into finance, consulting, or management. Accounting, finance, and economics concentrations are at the high end; marketing and management at the lower end. Total debt in the $50,000 to $65,000 range is typically manageable for business graduates in stronger concentrations.

Healthcare fields beyond nursing — including health science, pre-medicine tracks leading to graduate programs, and allied health fields — require specific attention. Pre-med undergraduate debt adds to the debt incurred in medical school, where the average graduate carries approximately $223,000. The debt is justifiable for physicians given lifetime earnings, but the full picture requires accounting for the total borrowing across the undergraduate plus graduate path, not just undergraduate debt in isolation.

Fields with starting salaries below $45,000 have a much narrower band of safe borrowing. Education majors typically start between $38,000 and $44,000 depending on state and school district. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York found that education majors at age 35 to 45 had a median income of $49,000 — only $8,000 more than their early-career pay five years after graduation, showing limited earnings growth in the field. At a $40,000 starting salary, the 1x rule limits safe total borrowing to $40,000.

Social work, fine arts, theater, and foreign language majors face similar constraints. CNBC's reporting on NY Fed data found these fields produce the lowest median incomes for full-time workers in the first five years after graduation. CollegeHelpGuide's analysis notes that a social work degree that costs $160,000 to earn — a realistic cost at a private university — and leads to a $42,000 starting salary is not a personal failure but a system design problem: higher education does not price itself relative to what careers in these fields pay.

For students entering these fields, the prescription is not to avoid the major — it's to minimize debt aggressively. Attending a public university with strong program quality dramatically changes the ROI compared to borrowing $150,000 from a private school for the same credential.

FREOPP's research isolates a critical interaction: major choice and institution cost compound each other, and the combination is worst when a low-paying major is pursued at a high-cost school. A philosophy degree from a state university costing $40,000 total might have a positive 10-year ROI. The same degree from a private university costing $200,000 may never break even, according to CollegeHelpGuide's ROI modeling.

This interaction is less severe for high-paying majors. A computer science degree from either a state university or a moderately priced private school produces strong returns — the starting salary is high enough to make the debt manageable even at higher cost. The penalty for choosing a high-cost school is lower for high-earning majors because their debt-carrying capacity is greater.

For families where the student is drawn to a lower-paying field, the financial planning implication is clear: prioritize price aggressively. Choose the program that delivers the credential at the lowest net cost, because the career path will constrain how much debt can comfortably be carried, and there's no premium starting salary to bail out a high debt load.

The major that can support more debt is the one with the higher expected starting salary — it's that direct. Engineering and computer science graduates can carry significantly more debt than education or social work graduates and remain within manageable payment thresholds. The debt limit is not set by the school, the size of the aid package, or the perception of the degree's value. It's set by what graduates from that major actually earn in their first job. Build your borrowing plan from that number, not from a generic rule.