photo by: Nick Krug

An aerial image shows from 2015 shows the KU School of Engineering.

Enrollment is up in quite a few engineering programs at the University of Kansas in recent years. Could this be why? (And is it too late for me to change my major?)

Engineering specialties make up 20 of today’s top 25 highest paying majors, according to a recently released list from the higher ed rankings and analysis company College Factual. Some of those specialties are pretty, well, specialized and probably not offered anywhere near KU (ie: mining and mineral engineering, naval architecture and marine engineering and ocean engineering). But many programs are found here.

In KU’s School of Engineering, aerospace, chemical, petroleum, computer, computer science and mechanical engineering majors all have seen notable — in some cases dramatic — jumps in enrollment from five years ago, according to figures from the school. Those are all on this list.

Here are the top 25 highest paying majors as reported by College Factual, with average early career salaries for each major. College Factual calculated the list based on salary estimates made with data from Payscale, and included only graduates with just bachelor’s degrees.

1.Petroleum engineering — $89,000

2.Mining and mineral engineering — $68,500

3.Nuclear engineering — $66,100

4.Naval architecture and marine engineering — $64,500

5.Chemical engineering — $64,200

6.Ocean engineering — $63,200

7.Systems engineering — $63,000

8.Aerospace, aeronautical and astronautical engineering — $61,500

9.Electrical, electronics and communications engineering — $61,400

10.Metallurgical engineering — $60,500

11.Computer engineering — $60,300

12.Materials engineering — $59,800

13.Mechanical engineering — $57,800

14.Industrial engineering — $56,700

15.Biomedical/medical engineering — $56,200

16.Agricultural engineering — $56,100

17.Biochemical engineering — $55,400

18.Environmental/environmental health engineering — $53,900

19.Computer science — $53,800

20.Nursing — $53,300

21.Civil engineering — $52,700

22.Applied mathematics — $52,200

23.Architectural engineering — $51,600

24.Physics — $50,800

25.Mathematics and computer science — $50,800

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• I’m the Journal-World’s KU and higher ed reporter. See all the newspaper’s KU coverage here. Reach me by email at sshepherd@ljworld.com, by phone at 832-7187, on Twitter @saramarieshep or via Facebook at Facebook.com/SaraShepherdNews.