A degree in medicine could see graduates earn up to £400,000 more over their lifetime than non-graduates, according to new research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) – but for some subjects, the financial return is little or even negative.
The IFS analysis of lifetime earnings for graduates born in the mid-1980s found that the average graduate takes home around £100,000 more than their non-graduate counterparts, even after taxes and student loan repayments. But that average masks vast disparities between courses.
“Medicine graduates earn up to £400,000 more over a lifetime, but one in four degrees offer negative returns.”
Economics graduates also fare well, the data suggests, while those who studied creative arts, philosophy or languages can expect a financial return ranging from negligible to negative when compared with someone of similar background who did not go to university.
Overall, one in four graduates are likely to be financially worse off over their lifetime as a result of going to university. Among male graduates, one in ten could be more than £90,000 worse off than they would otherwise have been.
For students who stayed in education after 16 but had relatively low GCSE grades, attending university still boosts lifetime take-home pay by £53,000 on average compared with peers with similar grades who did not go. Yet around four in ten male graduates with low prior attainment can expect to be worse-off over their lifetimes than if they had skipped university.
The Department for Education (DfE) said it would cap numbers on courses with the poorest financial returns and consult on introducing minimum English language requirements for prospective undergraduates to access student finance. A new consultation is expected in the autumn.
Minister for Skills Jacqui Smith urged students to think carefully before choosing a degree. "Don't walk into a degree by default," she said.
The research, based on a cohort of England-domiciled students who took GCSEs in 2002, was paired with more recent DfE data on graduate outcomes from the 2022-23 tax year.