By Rachel Dalloo

Graduates who have a bachelor’s degree in STEM-related majors tend to earn significantly more than workers who have only their high school diplomas

A college degree can be highly valuable and necessary for landing a top-notch job.

Candidates with college degrees generally have a higher chance of getting a job with more benefits and exposure than candidates without a college degree. However, not all majors contribute to fulfilling careers with steady employment rates and higher incomes. Employees who graduated with STEM degrees tend to earn higher salaries and benefit from lower unemployment rates, and many have secured jobs without advanced degrees, according to a new report by Bankrate.

According to a recent report from Payscale, college graduates earn about 37% more than those who only have a high school diploma or GED. The analysis found that the median pay for workers in the U.S. with a high school diploma is about $49,400, meanwhile, workers with a bachelor’s degree earn about $78,400 on average.

Continue reading to see which majors are the most popular, from Bankrate.

Introduction: The headline Costs of Academic Excellence

“Your card was declined.”

My joy and relief of finally being able to pay for my long-awaited lunch before my next stretch of afternoon classes was extinguished with embarrassment. The cashier’s words made my face grow hot, and my heart sank as I pulled up my transactions, seeing a recent $110 charge from the College Board labeled as AP exam. I’ve always prided myself on my hard work and dedication in school, earning top grades and excelling in advanced classes, but moments like this reminded me that my hard work alone isn’t enough. There will always be a gap between my academic achievements and the financial hurdles I face.

College Board, a non-profit educational organization, was founded to support students regardless of their background. Yet, the financial strain of affording AP exams and study materials prevents students from fully accessing the opportunities the AP programs promise: a high-quality education that the College Board guarantees for intellectually talented students. What should be an opportunity for advancement is a source of stress, shame, and frustration.

Brief History of the AP program: From Cold War Origins to Modern Challenges
Serving more than 7 million students globally each year with tests like the SAT and AP tests, the College Board stands as one of the biggest college-curriculum test providers. The pilot AP program started in 1952 as a reaction to increased education needs after the Cold War and was offered to a few select groups of students. During the Cold War, knowledge was crucial to staying ahead of the Soviet Union in the Space Race and developing nuclear weapons. The AP program was created to provide a jumpstart to college-level education for US high schoolers to address the perception that the US was lagging behind in education.

However, I believe that it is time to re-evaluate the AP system for it to truly support all students in their pursuit of higher education, as the educational framework should reflect the needs of today’s world, not the context of the post-Cold War era when it first was launched. The education landscape has evolved dramatically, and the AP program must adapt to these changes to remain relevant and equitable. By addressing current financial and systemic barriers, the College Board can better fulfill its mission of fostering educational excellence and equity for all students, especially ones who rely on school as a source of hope for their future.

Financial Barriers: The High Cost of Accessing Advanced Placement
The high cost of AP exams poses a significant barrier for talented students from disadvantaged backgrounds, limiting their access to advanced coursework and the promised benefits that come with it. Each AP exam costs $98 in the United States as of 2024, with international students facing even higher fees. For students taking multiple exams, the financial burden can be overwhelming. Worse, the College Board has increased the price of AP tests by 18% over the last 16 years and is expected to continue doing so, making them beyond the reach of talented marginalized groups throughout the US and the world. This financial barrier is particularly challenging for students from low-income families, who may already be struggling to meet basic educational expenses.

Furthermore, a report from the United States Government Accountability Office shows that only 58.2% of high schools serving low-income students offer AP courses, compared to 71.2% of high schools in wealthier districts. Without support to subsidize exam fees or provide adequate AP course preparation, some academically gifted students are often unable to enroll in AP courses or take the exams, leading them to miss out on the chance to demonstrate their academic capabilities, earn college credit, and enhance their college applications.

Consequently, gifted students from underserved communities are disproportionately underrepresented in AP classes and less likely to benefit or even experience the opportunities that the College Board originally intended to provide. Instead of inspiring young people to develop their intellect by challenging themselves in rigorous courses, AP classes create more obstacles for students to overcome. This economic disparity blocks students’ academic growth and exacerbates systematic educational inequities, contradicting the principles of equal opportunity and fairness that the College Board should uphold as a nonprofit educational organization.

Quality and Rigor: A Double-Edged Sword of Standardized Testing
Besides the limited access due to the high AP exam cost, the standardized nature of AP courses and exams raises further concerns about the organization, regardless of its initial goal of providing high-quality education for intellectually talented students. The rigid structure of AP programs often leads to a “teaching to the test” approach, where educators focus primarily on preparing students to score well on exams rather than intellectual exploration, which is crucial for talented students. A study by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute found that high-stakes testing can limit the depth and breadth of learning, as teachers are pressured to cover a vast amount of content quickly rather than allowing students to explore topics thoroughly.

Ironically, the AP exam itself blocks talented students from delving deeply into subjects, stifling their creativity and critical thinking; instead of encouraging a deep understanding of the material, the AP’s focus tends to be on rote memorization and test-taking strategies, contrasting its fundamental purpose of providing quality education for talented students. The pressure to perform well on AP tests can also reduce the joy of learning, as the students are often compelled to prioritize test-taking strategies over intellectual growth, sometimes even causing significant stress and anxiety among students. Research published by the City University of New York indicates that students in advanced courses like APs often experience higher stress levels than their peers, leading to a 10% decline in a student’s confidence to perform well in college. This stress can negatively impact their performance, creating a cycle where the pressure to succeed on standardized tests hinders their ability to learn effectively.

Evolving Needs for Contemporary Paradigms
Furthermore, the AP curriculum does not reflect the evolving needs of contemporary educational paradigms, failing to account for students’ diverse learning styles and interests. By enforcing a one-size-fits-all approach, the College Board inadvertently marginalizes students who may excel in non-traditional or creative fields of learning experiences that do not fit neatly into the AP curriculum. For example, project-based learning, interdisciplinary courses, and digital literacy are increasingly important in today’s education landscape. However, the AP curriculum completely isolates this perspective of education and only promotes pure memorization and standardized tests. The AP’s lack of flexibility can discourage students from pursuing their unique academic interests and talents, ultimately hindering their academic potential and personal development.

Personal Reflections: The Impact of Financial And Systemic Barriers
My personal experience underscores the profound impact of these financial and systemic issues. Coming into high school, I was thrilled to finally take an AP test that I’d heard my friends brag about. However, my excitement for my first AP class quickly turned into anxiety as the rapid pace and heavy workload overwhelmed me. Outside of class, I found as many free resources as I could to make sure I understood the test format and questions. It felt like the criteria for doing well on the test were endless. I spent countless sleepless nights on practice problems, only to realize that a year’s worth of effort boiled down to this one expensive exam. The fact that a whole year’s worth of studying came down to a single test was surprising enough, but the price shocked me more. I had to save as much as I could in order to take the exam: I put aside hanging out with friends and had fewer snacks. Although my urge to point out the unfair pricing was high, I was too embarrassed to ask in class how everyone was affording all of their AP exam fees.

Would higher education always be like this? Working hard under a shadow of anxiety about money?

Peers’ Experiences: Voices From the Classroom
However, I have figured that I am not alone in this struggle: many of my peers have faced similar challenges. Sarah Anderson, a brilliant classmate who excels in biology, had to skip her AP exam in order to be able to afford a different AP test.

“It felt like all my hard work throughout the year went to waste,” she confided.

David Kim, shared how he had to juggle a part-time job to pay for his AP exams, which affected his academic performance due to the extra burden.

Alex Lee, a friend from my AP English class, struggled despite her love for literature. “I have always loved reading and writing stories, but the AP class took away my freedom to write and read what I want.”

Leon Chung echoed similar sentiments, “I used to love spending time trying to figure out a math problem that struck my mind,” he explained. “But the AP curriculum was so focused on covering a wide range of topics quickly that I never had the chance to really dive deep into any of them. It was all about getting the right answer as quickly as possible, not taking the time to understand the underlying principles.”

These stories are not unique; they echo the experiences of countless students across the country who are forced to make tough choices because of financial constraints and the rigid structure of the AP system. Jason Lee, a friend with whom I spent nights preparing for the AP Physics course, shared his concerns, too. “I spent hours each night working through problem sets, but it felt like I was just going through the motions,” he said. “I liked trying different experiments and approaches to figure out a physics concept, but it was replaced by the anxiety of whether I’d remember enough to pass the AP test.”

We all agree that rather than inspiring us to become the best students we can, the AP courses and exams can feel stifling, anxiety-inducing, and restrictive. In high school, when many students worry about their performance in getting into good colleges, this sense of fear is counterproductive.

Conclusion: Rethinking AP for a New Era in Education
For many curious students, the classroom is a safe haven–a place to explore their passions and the world through books. However, as we advance in high school and prepare for college, the reality of standardized testing, college exam fees, and tuition prices becomes clearer. I’ve had to learn how to balance my love of learning with the reality that, at the end of the day, school costs real money. Some days, I can’t pay for lunch, or I’m worried about how I’ll cover the cost of a new book; other days, I’m thrilled to talk about biology after class with my teacher, going over new terms and learning how people pursue the field in college and after. I’ve mostly kept my embarrassment around money to myself, trying to keep my head down and fit in at school.

So, as I mentally planned my road to college, I was shocked to learn that students face another barrier: the cost of AP classes. For talented students, APs seem to promise both passionate learning and academic achievement. However, I believe the nature of AP courses and exams significantly undermines intellectual exploration and deep learning, which are essential for nurturing talented students. Focusing on rote memorization and test-taking strategies diminishes genuine intellectual curiosity and creativity. Moreover, the disparities in resources and support exacerbate educational inequities, leaving many students unable to benefit fully from the AP program.

It is time to address these issues with the College Board to at least lift a dollar from the enormous burdens that all students face. To fulfill its mission of fostering educational excellence and equity, the College Board must re-evaluate the current system and implement reforms that prioritize deep learning, critical thinking, and the diverse needs of all students. It is time for the College Board to honor its promises of students’ higher education pursuits by making the AP exam more accessible and relevant to today’s diverse learning needs. My experience in the cafeteria, dismayed by my overdrawn account, is just one example of how the AP exams hinder students from achieving their dreams. As an organization that values excellence in education, we, students, deserve better from the College Board.

A switch to digital SATs has helped boost the number of test-takers closer to pre-pandemic levels, but scores for recent college-bound seniors fell for the third straight year amid ongoing learning losses.

The College Board reported this week that more than 1.97 million high school students in the class of 2024 took the SAT at least once. That’s up from 1.91 million who participated in the college entrance exam in the class of 2023 and close to the 2.19 million graduates who completed the last tests before COVID-19 shuttered K-12 campuses in 2020.

As the number of test-takers rebounds, SAT scores on a scale of 400 to 1600 have continued a post-pandemic slide. The mean score slid from 1028 for the class of 2023 to 1024 for the class of 2024, both down from 1051 for the class of 2020.

The nonprofit company credited a “significantly shorter and easier” digital testing experience, the reinstatement of college application SAT requirements and an expansion of testing days from weekends to school hours for attracting more disadvantaged students to the exam.

“Giving the SAT to all students on a school day helps students understand that college is an option and boosts college going — especially for low-income and underrepresented minority students,” said Priscilla Rodriguez, the board’s senior vice president of college readiness assessments.

The College Board switched to digital PSAT testing last fall and digital SAT testing in the spring as part of a broader push to make the test more accessible and fair for minorities.

Compared with the traditional pencil-and-paper SAT, the digital version administered in May is two hours long instead of three, has shorter reading passages with one question each and allows calculators for all portions of the math section.

The latest SAT scores do not reflect this version because last year’s seniors took the exam on paper. However, roughly 3.65 million high school sophomores and juniors took a fully digital version of the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test or the PSAT 10 during the 2023-24 school year.

The College Board said this number, down slightly from 2022-23, was “consistent with participation” numbers since the pandemic ended.

Scores for the PSAT, which students take to prepare for the SAT, also slid for a third straight year, despite going paperless. On a scale of 320 to 1520, the mean score for the PSAT/NMSQT and PSAT 10 exams declined from 939 in 2022-23 to 930 in 2023-24 after the switch to digital testing.

The report comes as Education Department figures show standardized math and reading scores for younger students have dropped to historic lows since K-12 campuses closed in March 2020.

Most public schools maintained virtual and hybrid learning arrangements for most or all of the 2021-22 and 2022-23 academic years.

“The drop in SAT scores for the third straight year following the pandemic provides more evidence that school closure policies harmed students in measurable ways,” said Timothy K. Minella, a senior fellow at the free-market Goldwater Institute. “Because school leaders put adults’ feelings of safety above the needs of kids, college-age students are significantly less prepared for higher education than in previous years.”

As public schools went virtual, the nation’s top-ranked universities stopped requiring SAT scores for admission in March 2020, citing a sudden drop in minority and low-income applications.

Over the past year, dozens of universities ranging from private Harvard to public Georgia Tech abruptly reversed course and pledged to reinstate SAT requirements in upcoming admission cycles. They cited research showing that testing helped them better identify, recruit and retain racially diverse students.

“Many colleges … reinstated their test score requirements this year, showing colleges continue to value the SAT as part of their admissions processes after establishing test-optional policies during the pandemic,” the College Board said Tuesday.

Sliding Standards

Despite the surge in SAT exams, just 13% of test-takers in the class of 2024 participated in the essay portion of the test, down from 57% of the class of 2020. The College Board stopped requiring the essay in 2016.

According to critics, the decline in students writing the notoriously challenging essay reflects a gradual “dumbing down” of the SAT in several revisions stretching back decades.

John Moscatiello, a New Jersey high school teacher who founded Marco Learning to help students prepare for college, noted that the exam no longer requires students to demonstrate their ability to understand any reading passage longer than a paragraph.

“Every time the College Board changes the SAT, the test scores fluctuate for a period of time, and the scores become unreliable,” said Mr. Moscatiello, a former national director of tutoring at the Princeton Review. “I understand the desire to have a standardized test to compare college applicants, but I do not understand why mediocre tests like the SAT have become the standard.”

Several education insiders reached for comment predicted that the switch to digital testing will boost College Board revenues at a time when U.S. birth rates and the pool of available college applicants are entering an extended free fall.

“It is certainly logical to believe that revenue generation is part of the discussion to go online,” said Gary Stocker, founder of College Viability, which evaluates universities’ financial stability.

Mr. Stocker, a former chief of staff at private Westminster College in Missouri, noted that the College Board reported $1.04 billion in total revenue in 2022.

Besides a $68 registration fee for the digital SAT and various fees for Advanced Placement exams, those revenues include money the College Board makes by selling students’ data to colleges and universities.

“Always keep in mind the SAT is a business and they have to move the merchandise,” said Robert Weissberg, a retired University of Illinois political scientist and expert in pedagogy. “That many schools are returning to the SAT is welcome news for them. The deeper problem is … we have spent trillions [on testing] for meager or zero positive outcomes.”

Chester E. Finn Jr., a distinguished fellow and former president at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a conservative education think tank, said post-pandemic slippage in SAT and state standardized test scores suggests “a seriously bleak situation for an awful lot of kids and for the country.”

“I believe that continued slippage … signifies continued weakness and weakening in the products of US schools,” Mr. Finn said.

Others predicted that average scores will keep declining as digital SATs reach more disadvantaged minorities, who have traditionally performed worse on the exam than wealthy students.

“As a wider array of students take the SAT, the average score might naturally decrease,” said Tim Cain, a University of Georgia professor of higher education. “I am more concerned that the reliance on the test might, under the guise of merit, continue to confer benefits to students who do well because of their privileged educational backgrounds.”

According to Peter Wood, president of the conservative National Association of Scholars, pressures to increase Black enrollment at four-year colleges have driven years of changes to the SAT without resolving perennial complaints about its fairness.

He pointed out that the College Board eliminated analogies from the SAT verbal section in 2005 after years of complaints that they were biased against racial and linguistic minorities.

“The analogies section, however, was by far the most effective measure of the kind of verbal aptitude that was important for college education,” said Mr. Wood, a former associate provost at private Boston University. “It captured the student’s ability to think metaphorically — the heart of inquiry in philosophy, literature and the social sciences.”

Gold Standard
Ultimately, most education experts defended the test and its switch to a digital format. They said a combination of essays, teacher recommendations, extracurriculars, standardized testing and grades remains the gold standard for predicting college success.

“It makes it easier on students and families that digital tests can be administered during the school day,” said Michael Warder, a California-based nonprofit consultant and former vice chancellor at private Pepperdine University. “These standardized tests, together with grade point averages, make a better means of evaluating student potential for college.”

Shaan Patel, Founder & CEO of Prep Expert, a Las Vegas-based company that offers private tutoring for the SAT, said periodic changes are essential for keeping the test up to date.

“The SAT needs to continue evolving in ways that reflect modern education trends,” Mr. Patel said. “For example, integrating more practical, real-world applications into the questions can help ensure that the test assesses relevant skills for college and beyond.”

SACRAMENTO, Calif. —School districts in California will have to create rules restricitng student smartphone use under a new law Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Monday.

The legislation makes California the latest state to try to curb student phone access in an effort to minimize distractions in the classroom and address the mental health impacts of social media on children. Florida, Louisiana, Indiana and several other states have passed laws aimed at restricting student phone use at school.

"This new law will help students focus on academics, social development, and the world in front of them, not their screens, when they're in school," Newsom said in a statement.

But some critics of phone restriction policies say the burden should not fall on teachers to enforce them. Others worry the rules will make it harder for students to seek help if there is an emergency or argue that decisions on phone bans should be left up to individual districts or schools.

PREVIOUS: CA passes bill requiring schools to devise plan to ban or limit phones during the school day

"We support those districts that have already acted independently to implement restrictions because, after a review of the needs of their stakeholders, they determined that made the most sense for their communities with regards to safety, school culture and academic achievement," said Troy Flint, a spokesperson for the California School Boards Association. "We simply oppose the mandate."

The law requires districts to pass rules by July 1, 2026, to limit or ban students from using smartphones on campus or while students are under the supervision of school staff. Districts will have to update their policies every five years after that.

The move comes after Newsom signed a law in 2019 authorizing school districts to restrict student phone access. In June, he announced plans to take on the issue again after the U.S. surgeon general called on Congress to require warning labels on social media platforms and their effects on young people.

The governor then sent letters to districts last month, urging them to limit student device use on campus. That came on a day that the board for the second-largest school district in the country, Los Angeles Unified, voted to ban student phone use during the school day beginning in January.

Assemblymember Josh Hoover, a Republican representing Folsom, introduced the bill with a bipartisan group of lawmakers who are also parents.

Phones are restricted where Hoover's children - ages 15, 12 and 10 - attend school. Many of the students don't always like the policy, which is in part a reflection of how addictive phones can be, he said.

"Anytime you're talking about interrupting that addiction, it's certainly going to be hard for students sometimes," Hoover said. "But I think overall they understand why it's important, why it helps them focus better on their classes and why it actually helps them have better social interaction with their peers face to face when they're at school."

Some parents have raised concerns that school cellphone bans could cut them off from their children if there is an emergency. Those fears were highlighted after a shooting at a Georgia high school left four dead and nine injured this month.

The 2019 law authorizing districts to restrict student phone access makes exceptions for emergencies, and the new law doesn't change that. Some proponents of school phone restrictions say it's better to have phones off in an active shooter situation, so that they don't ring and reveal a student's location.

Teachers have reported seeing students more engaged since the Santa Barbara Unified School District began fully implementing a ban on student phone use in class during the 2023-24 school year, Assistant Superintendent ShaKenya Edison said.

Nick Melvoin, a Los Angeles Unified board member who introduced the district's resolution, said passing the policies at the district or state level can help prevent students from feeling like they're missing out on what's going on on social media.

Before student cellphone use was banned during the school day at Sutter Middle School in Folsom, students had been seen recording fights, filming TikTok challenges and spending lunchtime looking at online content, Principal Tarik McFall said. The rule has "totally changed the culture" of the school so that students spend more time talking to one another, he said.

"To have them put away, to have them power off and that be a practice, it has been a great thing," McFall said.

Teachers have become more reliant in recent years on technology as a learning tool for students, particularly since the COVID-19 pandemic, said Mara Harvey, a social studies teacher at Discovery High School in the Natomas Unified School District.

The district, which is in Sacramento, provides students in the first through 12th grades with a Chromebook, where they can access online textbooks and Google Classroom, a platform where teachers share class materials. But if a student forgets their Chromebook at home, their smartphone becomes "the next viable choice for them to access the curriculum," Harvey said.

by: Myja Gary

Foster youth across California will now be able to attend college, free of charge, after new legislation, SB 307, was signed into the state budget Monday.

The new Fostering Futures program will cover the entire cost for foster youth to attend a University of California, California State University or California community college.

93% of foster youth in California want to attend college, but only 4% will attend and graduate with a degree, officials said. In addition, foster youth are directly impacted, more than other youth, by significant increases in the cost of living, which further impedes their ability to attend college. 

An expansion of the existing Middle-Class Scholarship (MCS) program, the Fostering Futures program will cover college tuition for foster youth in addition to other costs including books, food and lodging. 

Officials say the program serves to both increase the likelihood that foster youth can reach their educational goals and also better prepare them to enter the next stage of their lives, whether that involves pursuing an advanced degree or entering directly into their chosen career path, by providing the opportunity to begin their next chapter debt-free from higher education.