In addition to the usual tuition, flash drives and paper goods required for most college classes, several majors top the list as the most expensive degrees to set your sights upon. 

 

1) Medicine

The medical field has the honor of being the most expensive degree to get because of the sheer number of years spent in school to be able to attain it. Prospective doctors spend four years of college, four years of medical school and anywhere from three to eight years of an in-hospital residency before they are ready to take one last test and start their own practice. Like law, there is no specific major needed in the first four years of college to become a doctor of medicine, however a bachelor’s degree is required to get into medical school, and the most popular majors along this route are biology, organic chemistry, physics, calculus, and English. Also similar to the law, doctors are required to obtain continuing education credits annually.

To prepare for your medical career, you could possibly complete your undergraduate studies at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts for $56,546 per year.

 

Degree Program

Expensive Degree Program

2) Law

Law is arguably the second most expensive major one can take, perhaps tied with medicine, simply because of the amount of time students will need to be in school, requiring 7 years of higher education school at a minimum. In fact, it isn’t considered so much a major as a lifelong career choice, hence the phrase “the practice of law”. There is no specific major required to be taken in order to be admitted to law school. Many people get their bachelor’s degree in math, humanities, or political or social science fields, then go on to the three to four years of law school to achieve the goal of receiving their Juris doctor (J.D) diploma. After graduation comes more school, in the form of studying to take the bar exam and Law School Admissions Test (LSAT) in order to join the United States American Bar Association. A majority of law students graduate owing student loans in excess of $100,000. In addition, all states require actively practicing attorneys to obtain credits in continuing education each year.

 

If you had the time, inclination and finances, you could attend Cornell University in Ithica, New York for a cost of $53,150 per year.

 

3) Music

With good instruments being worth their weight in twenty dollar bills, a music major is definitely one of the most expensive majors available. Music lessons alone run about $800 per semester, and a student must procure a quality instrument, computer and related hardware and software, sheet music, and pay for instrument upkeep. In total, a music major can reasonably expect to shell out at least $5,000 for additional expenses beyond the cost of tuition in their first semester alone, depending on their desired instrument and class requirements.


You can major at Music at Bate’s College in Lewiston, Maine at a cost of $59,285.00 per year.

 

4) Graphic Design

Art supplies can be expensive and cheap wax crayons just won’t cut it in this high-paced world of color and angles. Supplies you’d need to keep up with the rest of the pack going for a major in Graphic Design can cost approximately $3,000 per year, according to the Rhode Island School of Design’s website. That price obviously doesn’t include the essential laptop capable of running the appropriate software.

 

If you so chose, you could major in Graphic Design at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, Rhode Island for of $53,312 per year.

 

5) Film

Lastly, film is also an exceptionally expensive majors to go for. It’s a specialty school and therefore costs more by default. Also, film schools are more likely to be mentioned in movies and the biographies of well known actors and actresses, increasing a given school’s popularity and notoriety, and therefore the price. The equipment required of a successful student trying to attain a major in film is most often extremely expensive, including video cameras, which are often specialties themselves, as well as all of the hardware and software to go along with them. One also has to keep in mind the extensive travel to and from filming locations.
Should you desire, you can get your bachelor’s degree in film at the University of Southern California- Los Angeles for $35,809.00 per year.