Choosing a major in college may be one of the biggest choices a student makes in their academic life. The consequences of this sort of decision can last far beyond four years at a university, as well as affect that student for the rest of his or her life. That is why I think it is important to ask what is driving college students into making the crucial decisions that they are.

Two key factors that many college students, including me, took into account greatly were passion and income. The dream job for many often includes having both an intense passion for the work as well as a high salary to afford a comfortable lifestyle. However, to say that achieving both is challenging would be an understatement.

Forbes Magazine offered an analysis of student’s personal essays discussing why they wanted to major in whatever they wanted to major in. A stark difference seemed to present itself between the students who mentioned a passion they had for their chosen major and students who alternatively only mentioned possible career opportunities in the future.

Majors involving fine arts and humanities were often deeply rooted in some sort of passion as well as a more vocational outlook for their future. According to the Forbes analysis, they did, however, usually fail to associate with actual job prospects right out of college.

On the other hand, students with aspirations to major in economics, business, medicine and a few of the sciences generally left out the term “passion” and stuck more with their career motivated plans for the future.

With this information, it seems as though passion and income are not necessarily correlated. From my own personal experiences and from observing others around me, the more passion someone possess in the work that they do, the higher their overall happiness is. Without a drive or devotion to one’s work, it’s hard to feel completely fulfilled and content.

Although, there is also proven to be a correlation between a person’s income level and their happiness. TIME magazine says that while to a certain extent the level of income someone receives does affect their happiness, it usually only goes as far as the amount it takes to make a comfortable living. If someone was struggling to make ends meet for themselves or their family and gained more money, their happiness level could be greatly affected. After that, overall happiness is not affected. The Economic Policy Institute claims this basic standard of living cost for a family of four, with two working parents, is $48,778 a year, making the average annual income per partner roughly $24,000. This proves that many of the majors that offer jobs with a lower average income but are often passion oriented, can still provide the financial means to maintain a general happiness.

The Career Development Center at St. Thomas released a First Destination Survey of 2015 Tommie graduates, giving post graduation statistics like average starting incomes for different majors and the percentage of students in those salary ranges.

The majors that ended up making $25,000 a year or less post-graduation included English, history, philosophy, theology, music and geography. The predominate majors that on average received a starting salary of over $40,000 included economics, business, actuarial sciences, physics and engineering.

The lower-paying majors generally aligned more with the previously stated passion-orientated majors, while the majors with a generally higher income aligned with the career-driven majors.

What I found most interesting was that only about 22 percent of the St. Thomas graduates are receiving less than $25,000 a year, while 51 percent are receiving $40,000 or more a year. Are St.Thomas students’ major decisions generally income driven? And if so, can they still be happy?

While I firmly believe money isn’t everything and having a sole dependence on wealth will never lead to long-lasting happiness, I think it’s fair to say that money matters. The inability to make a living for oneself and constantly struggling to make ends meet is not a lifestyle I see a lot of college students striving for. However, a deep-rooted passion in one’s work as well as a feeling of value should not just be thrown to the wayside. I’m not saying that all students who are in majors that obtain higher incomes aren’t also passionate about their majors, I just believe that there has to be more than money to maintain a sense of value in one’s life. Money is proven to only go so far, and past a certain income level it has little to no effect on a person’s happiness level.

Sometimes I think students get too caught up in the dollar sign and focus less on what will actually make them happy in the long run. Your major decision is a major decision. Before you blindly follow the money trail, at least stop and take a moment to make sure it’s the right trail for you.

Sam Miner can be reached at mine0034@stthomas.edu