2004 salaries out of college: $52K for chemical engineering, $51K for engineering, $49K for computer science

Engineering majors are seeing the most cash – though with narrow percentage changes from last year – led by gains from chemical engineering graduates, who now earn $52,539 a year on average, up 0.3% from a year earlier. Computer engineering graduates follow closely behind with $51,297, a 0.1% decrease from last year. Those graduating with a degree in computer science are seeing heartier increases. According to NACE, information sciences and systems grads earn $42,375 a year on average. That’s up 10.7% from a year earlier. Meanwhile, computer science graduates make $49,036 a year, a gain of 4.1%.