A New Tool Breaks Down Earnings Potential for Different Majors. Here’s What You Need to Know.

U. of Texas system

It’s a fair bet that students in Texas are tired of being asked what the return on investment is for that four-year degree in music or philosophy. And they don’t need a fancy new data set to tell them that if they’d focused instead on, say, petroleum engineering, they’d wipe out their student-loan debts in no time.

Still, a lot of students and parents are likely to spend the next several weeks geeking out over seekUT, a new tool jointly created by the University of Texas System and the U.S. Census Bureau.

The data set unveiled on Tuesday lets students at Texas colleges compare majors to get an idea of what they might earn one, five, or 10 years after graduation, no matter where they live and work. They can also see how much they’re likely to owe, how many years it typically takes to earn a degree, and what percentage of students in that field pursue graduate degrees.

Tracking earnings nationwide is a big deal because, since 2008, the federal government has been banned from collecting and reporting such student-level information, mainly because of privacy concerns.

The University of Texas was able to sidestep that problem by teaming up with the Census Bureau and its “supersecure” computer, which strips identifying information and then stores the anonymized data.

Colorado’s public universities are next up, and a group of research universities is also eager to team up with the Census Bureau.

Here’s a brief guide to the new system and how it was created:

Why is this database needed?

As college debt levels have soared, students and their families are eager for data that can shed light on whether a degree in English or engineering is worth the investment. And it’s not just the first year out. They want to know what they might expect to be earning a decade down the road. In Texas, higher-education officials were able to piece together that information using state work-force commission data for students who stayed in the Lone Star State, but if they moved elsewhere, there were no federal data they could tap into.

So how did Texas get around this roadblock?

The system teamed up with the Census Bureau. Transcript data are transferred in a secure mode from the university system to a “supersecure machine” at the bureau, where the names and Social Security numbers are stripped, says Erika McEntarfer, head of research for the Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics research group at the bureau’s Center for Economic Studies. An anonymous identifier is then applied. The bureau matches that with earnings data from other states.

How can it help students choose a major?

Say the choice is between marketing and history. The student would plug both into the score card, enter which of Texas’ 14 campuses she attends, and select either Texas or nationwide data.

Looking at median earnings (meaning that half of the graduates earned less and half earned more), marketing majors earned $51,586 one year out. That rose to $68,201 after five years and $91,966 after 10. Graduates with those degrees could expect to be on the hook for $24,291.

For history, median earnings were $38,609 after one year, $50,856 after five years and $65,753 after 10. Their debt, at $25,642, was slightly higher.

(Petroleum-engineering graduates, by the way, started at $119,936, climbing to $319,269 after 10 years.)

How else can these data be used?

They could provide useful ammunition for universities facing lawmakers who are skeptical about the value of a college degree and eager to trim their budgets.

For instance, one year after graduation, Texas alumni earned $17,000 more, on average, than students with only a high-school degree, system officials say. That gap widened to $30,000 a decade later.

Knowing how much graduates with different degrees typically earn could also give students a starting point in salary negotiations.

And someone majoring in a discipline with a high debt-to-earnings ratio might decide to take out smaller loans and make up the difference with part-time jobs, says Stephanie Bond Huie, vice chancellor for strategic initiatives for the Texas system.

The tracking tool allows students to see how much their monthly loan payments are likely to eat into their paychecks.

Are other states doing anything like this?

The Census Bureau is working with the State of Colorado on a similar database for its 31 public colleges and universities. That information is expected out this summer. It’s also working on an agreement with the Institute for Research on Innovation and Science, a research-university consortium, to start a pilot project with some of its members.

How does this information differ from the U.S. Department of Education’s College Scorecard, which was released in 2013?

The College Scorecard, which includes graduation rates, salaries, and costs for various degrees, tracks only people who take out federal financial aid, which leaves out a huge percentage of students. The Scorecard also includes college-level but not program-level data.

How likely is it that Congress will lift the ban on releasing student-level earnings data?

A bipartisan push in Congress has many feeling that it’s only a matter of time before that happens.

Opponents, including Virgina Foxx, Republican of North Carolina and chairwoman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, agree that students and their families need better information, but so far, they worry more about violating federal privacy laws.

Amy Laitinen, director for higher education at New America, says the tool unveiled on Tuesday demonstrates how important access to detailed earnings data is for students.

“While it’s great that they found this workaround to the ban, it sends the message that the feds need to stop being a barrier that they have to work around,” she says.

“As student debt has skyrocketed, students are wondering whether they’ll earn enough money to pay down their debt,” Laitinen says. “Employers want this information, students want it. The drumbeat is growing, and it’s loud.”

Katherine Mangan writes about community colleges, completion efforts, and job training, as well as other topics in daily news. Follow her on Twitter @KatherineMangan, or email her at katherine.mangan@chronicle.com.