Art degrees rank among the worst-paying university qualifications in the UK, with teaching close behind, according to an August 2026 higher education report from Edumentors. The study examined how long graduates take to recoup the cost of university, including tuition fees and earnings they forgo while studying.
Performing arts graduates take 39 years to earn back the money they gave up by going to university. Psychology remains one of the UK’s most popular degree subjects, yet graduates still need 16 years of work to cover tuition and other study costs. Education and teaching degrees take nearly 30 years to break even, despite almost all graduates securing jobs within a year of completing their studies.
To calculate the payback period, the research tracked what graduates earned one, three, five, and 10 years after leaving university using government data from the Department for Education. These earnings were compared with the £26.2K annual income of a similar person without a degree. The year-by-year difference between the two figures was then used to estimate how long each degree takes to recoup its costs in fees and lost income.
Here is a look at the 10 degree subjects that take the longest to pay for themselves.
| Field of Study | Years Until the Degree Pays for Itself | Median Earnings 10 Years After Graduating | In Work or Further Study 10 Years After Graduating |
|---|---|---|---|
| Performing arts | 39 | £29.7K | 87.8% |
| Creative arts and design | 33.1 | £30K | 83.7% |
| Education and teaching | 29.8 | £29.6K | 87.7% |
| Agriculture, food, and related studies | 26 | £30.7K | 86.4% |
| Media, journalism, and communications | 18.2 | £34K | 85.8% |
| Combined and general studies | 18 | £32.2K | 78% |
| Health and social care | 18 | £32.9K | 87.7% |
| Sociology, social policy and anthropology | 16.5 | £34.4K | 86.2% |
| Psychology | 16 | £35.1K | 86.4% |
| English studies | 15.8 | £35.1K | 86.1% |
Performing arts
Performing arts is the lowest-paying degree in the UK. Graduates start out earning just £18.7K in their 1st year, below the £26.2K earned by a typical non-graduate. After five years, salaries reach £25.6K, still below the non-graduate baseline, meaning performing arts graduates at this stage earn less than people who did not attend university. With £60K in fees and lost income to recover, it takes 39 years of working to break even.
Creative arts and design
Creative arts and design also ranks among the worst degrees from a financial perspective. Graduates start on £20.9K in their first year, and after 5 years earn just £900 more a year than a non-graduate. With such a small earnings gap, it can take decades for the degree to pay for itself, even as salaries eventually rise.
Education and teaching
Teaching degrees take nearly 30 years to pay for themselves. Employment prospects are stronger, with nearly 93% of graduates in work within a year of finishing and 88% still employed a decade later. The issue is pay. 5 years after graduating, the typical teacher earns £29.3K, only slightly above the £26.2K earned by a non-graduate, and that figure has barely increased after a decade. With earnings rising slowly, the degree takes almost a generation to financially justify itself, despite graduates generally finding work easily.
Agriculture, food, and related studies
Agriculture and food-related studies rank fourth, with graduates waiting 26 years for their degree to pay off. Starting salaries are £23.4K, rising to £28.5K after 5 years, just £2.3K above the non-graduate baseline. Employment remains steady throughout the decade, with around 88% of graduates in work.
Media, journalism, and communications
Media and journalism degrees round out the top five, taking more than 18 years to pay for themselves. Graduates start on £22K in their 1st year, £4.2K below the £26.2K non-graduate baseline. This means that during the first few years, media graduates could be financially better off if they had not gone to university. Salaries gradually catch up, reaching £28.5K after five years, although the slow start makes the degree harder to justify on financial grounds.
A higher education expert from Edumentors shared practical tips for international students: “When it comes to the fastest paying degrees, economics and medicine stand out the most. Economics graduates are earning £71.4K by the 10-year mark, and the degree pays for itself in under six years. Medicine costs more to study, but doctors start on £42.8K straight out of university, which is why it breaks even almost as quickly. Engineering, physics, and maths follow closely behind, all paying off within seven years of graduating.”
The findings highlight the wide variation in financial returns across subjects and underline the importance of considering long-term earnings alongside personal interests when choosing a degree.