Study finds degrees in science, technology, engineering and math are associated with 25 to 50 percent higher earnings
Minority college students who major in the STEM fields – science, technology, engineering and math – earn at least 25 percent more than their peers who study humanities or education, according to the results of a new study.
And those who took jobs related to their STEM degrees earned at least 50 percent more than their classmates who majored in humanities or education fields.

Published in the June issue of Research in Higher Education, the study followed more than 1,000 Asian and Pacific Islander, Latino and black students over nine years. One third of the students studied were Latino. The students were scholarship applicants for the Gates Millennium Scholars Program funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which awards grants to highly motivated, low-income minority students.

While minority groups continue to be underrepresented in the STEM fields, the study’s researchers believe this will change if students understand how much more money can be earned in those fields.

“The premiums for majoring in STEM fields are huge,” said lead author Tatiana Melguizo, associate professor of education with the USC Rossier School of Education. “We need to educate students that if they get a job in a STEM-related occupation, they have an even higher earning premium. Otherwise, students aren’t reaping the economic benefit of all the hard work they went through as undergrads.”

Overall, Latinos reported the highest average earnings after college – $42, 180 annually – relative to the other minority groups. Black students reported earning $35,900 and Asian Pacific Islanders earned $40,261 (data in 2006 dollars).
Latinos majoring in STEM fields also reported the highest earnings among the groups studied: an average of $56,875 per year, higher than the reported average salaries of $39,365 for blacks and $47,530 for Asian Pacific Islanders.

For professor Melguizo and her colleagues, these findings are of particular interest since nearly 14% of undergraduates at USC are Latino; accounting for nearly 2,500 of the entire student body.

The study’s authors said more research must be done to determine whether these discrepancies are attributable to different career preferences among racial/ethnic groups or employers’ hiring decisions, as well as the role colleges and universities play in the career and occupational development of minority students.

“Among the high achieving minority students we studied, Latinos not only reported the highest annual earnings overall, but also reported the highest annual earnings among STEM majors,” said study co-author Gregory Wolniak, a senior research scientist at the independent research organization NORC at the University of Chicago. “Preliminary findings suggest this may partially be due to Latino students’ ability to find jobs related to their major. These findings are encouraging signs that strengthening the pipeline of underrepresented students into STEM careers offers a viable solution to our nation’s growing competitiveness problem in engineering and science fields.”

Funding for the study was provided by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation through the Institute for Higher Education Policy.

USC STEM Programs

In response to President Obama’s mandate that the United States produce more scientists and engineers to maintain its edge in an increasingly competitive global economy, USC has rolled out a variety of collaborative research projects in the STEM fields to accomplish this goal.

Among these projects include:

• A Web-based gardening game called “Virtual Sprouts” that combines teaching and technology to reduce rates of obesity among children in inner-city Los Angeles

• An interactive website, mobile app and game to teach children about water conservation. The “Water Equals” project was funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in collaboration with 20 other universities nationwide.

• The development of an educational toolkit that includes research and interventions to educate teachers, clinicians and parents about autism.

The USC Rossier School of Education (ross-EAR) is one of the world’s premier centers for the study of urban education. In addition to the school’s transformational research and partnerships, Rossier also prepares teachers and educational leaders who are committed to improving urban education locally, nationally and globally.

Reprinted from LatinoLA.com