Study Finds Variation in Costs by Different Majors

Using data from Florida's public four-year colleges and universities, a new study released by the National Bureau of Economic Research (abstract available here) finds wide variation in the costs to institutions associated with various majors. Engineering is by far the most expensive major, costing $569 per credit hour awarded. Other majors on the high end include science and technology fields such as health sciences ($461) and physical sciences ($346). Generally, humanities fields are much lower, with English coming in at $280 and philosophy at $245. Among the lowest cost was mathematics at $209. Most of the costs were instructional expenses.

The study was conducted by Joseph G. Altonji, a professor of economics at Yale University, and Seth D. Zimmerman, an assistant professor of economics at the University of Chicago.