While it may be onerous to find out that quantity, you may get a tough thought of what employees in varied occupations earn from information on the Department of Labor website. Your alternative of main additionally impacts your eventual pay and the way a lot debt you may count on to repay after commencement, mentioned Michael Itzkowitz, founder and president of the HEA Group, a consulting agency targeted on faculty entry and success.

Some majors usually tend to end in larger salaries, Mr. Itzkowitz mentioned. The group revealed a spreadsheet on Thursday, based mostly on April information from the Department of Education’s College Scorecard, of the typical salaries for the most well-liked majors, in addition to the highest-paying majors, 4 years after commencement. The high salaries — $90,000 and better — are concentrated in majors like petroleum or laptop engineering, laptop science and pharmacy, whereas salaries in fields just like the high quality arts, studio arts, dance and theater are within the low- to mid-$30,000 vary.

“Everyone needs to consider the cost of attendance in addition to what their potential salary might be,” Mr. Itzkowitz mentioned. “Can you recoup your costs within a reasonable amount of time?”

Here are some questions and solutions about scholar loans:

Is there a restrict to how a lot I can borrow for faculty?

For federal scholar loans, the restrict for dependent students is usually $5,500 for the primary 12 months, $6,500 for the second 12 months and $7,500 for the third and fourth years. The cumulative cap, which accounts for additional years if wanted, is $31,000. (Borrowing limits are larger for impartial and graduate college students.) For PLUS loans, the restrict is as excessive because the establishment’s value of attendance.

Are charges rising for personal scholar loans?

Private scholar loans are provided by banks and lenders aside from the federal authorities, and their charges, which fluctuate by lender, have additionally been rising. The loans sometimes require a credit score verify, and solely debtors with top-notch credit score get the bottom marketed charges. Private loans might also have variable rates of interest, which implies your month-to-month fee can enhance over time as charges rise. Advocates for scholar debtors urge warning with non-public loans as a result of they are usually costlier and lack the protections of federal loans, like fee plans adjusted to your revenue and the best to quickly droop fee within the occasion of setbacks like a job loss or sickness. Also, federal debtors who work in sure authorities and nonprofit jobs could qualify to have their debt forgiven after a time frame.