Tell me your degree and I’ll tell you when you can retire: How your choice of university subject will affect your entire life – as a jobs expert warns of the biggest mistake you can make

Choosing the right degree can set you up for life and make you a high-income earner with financial security and a rewarding career.

The wrong choice, however, can leave you with crippling student and a low-paid job – not to mention insufficient superannuation to retire comfortably. 

With many careers requiring a university degree, it’s almost inevitable someone will incur a HECS debt that runs into the tens of thousands of dollars.

Average student debt stands at $27,640 but fees for degrees like law and medicine are more than double that. Arts and communications courses are also expensive but they are unlikely to put someone on the path to a high-paying career.

The wrong degree could leave not just a financial burden, but also make it harder to save up to buy a house mortgage deposit – leaving graduates stuck in rent slavery.

An Australian earning an average, full-time salary of $100,017 would now barely qualify for a loan to buy a house near a big city centre. But Australia’s best-paid can earn at least four times that level, before tax, in industries ranging from medicine to finance, engineering and law.

Then there are careers where pay levels are below average despite the requirement for a degree, from accounting to journalism, nursing and teaching.

And for the dreamers aspiring to stardom, there’s acting which typically barely pays above minimum wage – but now falls within the threshold of repaying student debt. 

Andrew Norton, a professor of higher education policy at Australian National University, says prospective university students need to think about how their abilities and interests align with occupational pay levels if they want a career with decent earnings.

‘Within your constraints, which course you do can have a very significant impact on life’s earnings,’ he tells me.

‘You don’t have total choice in the sense that you have interests and aptitudes which limit which courses you can do, and then it’s hard to get into some of the higher-paying courses.’

It’s also worth reconsidering degrees like a bachelor of arts that produce higher tuition fees – in the $40,000-plus range – but without leading to a high-paid job linked to their area of study.

‘Courses like arts, which don’t do terribly well, have equal highest student contributions,’ Mr Norton notes.

Mr Norton adds his greatest concern isn’t necessarily what degree a person chooses as an undergraduate, but whether they are rushing into further studies afterwards.

‘In my mind, what I have been concerned about was people doing post-graduate courses soon after they did their bachelor degree – that just gives you so much debt before you really start your career,’ he says.

The exception is doing postgraduate studies to become a surgeon or a medical specialist, who have by far Australia’s highest average salaries. 

Medicine graduates typically earn $85,000, but extra study and training can see them easily earn five to seven times that – as a surgeon or a specialist – and join the very elite ranks of the top 0.5 per cent of income earners.

Surgeons in general have the highest average taxable income of $460,356 followed by anaesthetists on $431,193.

They are paid more than double general practitioners on $163,360, which means there’s a shortage of suburban doctors as more medicine students do postgraduate study to become a surgeon or a specialist.

Dentists typically earn $164,961 even though dentistry graduates have the highest salary of $94,400 after finishing university, based on data from the Quality Indicators for Learning and Teaching’s graduate outcomes survey.

Pharmacists earn $88,068 and have the lowest graduate salary of $55,500 – proving not everything related to medicine is lucrative.

Medical nurses typically earn $79,936, having completed a bachelor of nursing degree, but they have lower student debt levels in the $12,000 range.

They are also eligible for debt reduction – through an elimination of indexation for inflation – if they live and work in a regional area, with this debt forgiveness also available to rural doctors.  

Australia’s best-paid professionals typically have an undergraduate degree in medicine plus a postgraduate degree in their area of specialty.

But some surgeons earn more than others, accounting for salaries and work expenses claimed on tax.

Mr Norton says surgeons earn a lot of money because student places are restricted at medical colleges.

‘It can take 10-years-plus from the time you start your medical degree to the time you become a surgeon – it’s a long period,’ he says. 

‘Typically, it would be in the top one per cent of school leavers.

‘Historically, the government has severely restricted the number of student places at medical schools which in turn has kind of limited the labour force which in turn has enabled them to charge higher fees.’

Cardiothoracic surgeons, who operate on the heart and lungs, have average taxable incomes of $473,371.

Urologists who specialise in male reproductive health are typically paid $543,818. 

Brain surgeons, also known as neurosurgeons, are even better paid at $593,221, but plastic surgeons earn even more, with average taxable incomes of $608,669.

Ear, nose and throat surgeons, formally known as otorhinolaryngologists, are even more sought after, typically making $640,270. 

But eye surgeons, also known as ophthalmologists, have the highest taxable earnings of $644,898.

Away from medicine, finance dealers have the highest taxable income of $373,733 – putting them among the top 0.7 per cent of income earners.

This kind of career usually requires an undergraduate degree in finance, accounting, business or economics.

Futures trading brokers typically make $403,153 compared with $401,695 for stockbrokers.

They make more than double a bank branch manager on $159,220. 

Mining and petroleum engineers typically make $214,324 on average and have a bachelor of engineering degree majoring in mining or geotechnical engineering.

Law degrees also pay well with judges typically making $459,843 compared with $291,435 for magistrates.

Lawyers who appear in court on behalf of their clients earn above-average salaries with barristers, admitted to the bar, typically making $156,526 while solicitors get $150,447.

Mr Norton says young people with an interest in humanities subjects are more likely to make money in law rather than a field such as journalism.

‘We have to think, “What were the realistic choices of the people thinking about a communications degree?” It’s probably more on the writer, humanities side,’ he says.

‘If they’d gone down say the law path, they would have earned on average better earnings than communications.

‘It’s harder to get into a law [course] in the first place typically so I suspect on average, you’re looking at graduates with higher ability.

‘There are historical norms around pricing of certain services and legal firms have been able to charge higher rates in a way that freelance writers or journalists never have been.’

Newspaper journalists typically earn $92,446, a level below average, despite media companies requiring an undergraduate degree in communications. 

Radio journalists earn even less at $84,561.

But TV reporters and producers are better paid at $116,522. 

Those making the switch to writing media releases can make $127,554 as a public relations manager.

Those with an aptitude for writing can also have careers in education. High school teachers get $87,780 after obtaining a bachelor of education, but school principals typically make $141,436.

While bank and airline chief executives have base salaries in the millions, CEOs typically make $224,856, compared with $252,716 for corporate general managers.

Mr Norton says the speculative nature of running a business means higher salaries are possible for captains of business.

‘Other things are speculative; you could earn a lot, you could become the CEO of a successful company but you might be doing bookkeeping in the suburbs,’ he said.

Then there are degrees where professionals earn less than average, with salaries in the five figures despite having a university degree.

Acting is often portrayed as glamorous but actors typically make just $54,698, or marginally more than the full-time minimum wage of $47,621, despite studying performing or creative arts.

Their typical earnings are also above the $54,435 threshold for paying off HECS debt.

‘Most people don’t earn very much – a lot of them do actually know that but they want to take the risk,’ Mr Norton says. 

Tax accountants are also below average with typically taxable incomes of $94,676, despite needing a degree in accountancy, because there is a strong supply of these professionals.

‘I suspect a lot of them are doing H&R Block-type, shopfront work where the nature of people wanting individual tax returns means the market keeps the prices down,’ Mr Norton says. 

‘Just the market conditions means they can’t charge too much.’

But forensic accountants can do better, with internal auditors making $124,051. 

‘At the top end of town, with major corporations, there is much greater scope to charge higher rates,’ he says. 

If pay and job security are the biggest concerns, Mr Norton says it pays to think about whether someone wants a career with stability or an element of risk.

‘If you are risk-averse, courses like nursing are actually really good in the sense that they are flexible, it’s easy to get a job, you’re not going to get rich but it’s a reasonable pay rate,’ he says.

A higher-paid job also increases the chance of having sufficient retirement savings, as 2.9 million Australians grapple with student debt.

The Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia recommends $595,000 is needed for a single person who has paid off a mortgage to have a comfortable retirement.

Employers have, since July 2024, been required to pay 11.5 per cent super each year.

But despite increasing superannuation contribution guarantees required of employers, average super balances stood at just $164,126 in 2021-22, based on the most up-to-date Australian Taxation Office data.

Super Consumers Australia says $258,000 is sufficient for a modest retirement. 

Before future wage rises are factored in, someone earning the average, full-time salary of $100,017 – with $11,502 set aside for super annually – would take 51 years to reach the $595,000 comfortable retirement target and 24 years to reach the modest retirement target.

But the typical eye surgeon on $644,898 would reach the comfortable retirement target in eight years and the modest retirement target in four years.

This suggests those wanting to retire early in their forties or fifties are more likely to have that financial choice if they have worked in a job with a pay level at least double the average salary.

So it’s clear a young adult’s decisions can have effects that are felt almost five decades later when they reach the age pension threshold at 67.