Today, money is not the only criteria when it comes to finding a job that you actually like. People are also looking for additional factors, such as health care benefits or the option to work remotely. It’s no surprise that search terms like “college degrees that make you rich working from home” are high on Google’s list.
That’s why I thought in this article I’m going to list some of the most profitable college courses you can take that can earn you lots of money after graduating, all while working remotely. Check them out and see if there is something you would enjoy!
Do you need a college degree to get a high-paying remote job?
Absolutely not. There are so many options for how you can become rich without having any degree at all. For instance, just think of all the popular content creators out there, all the YouTubers, Instagrammers, or TikTokers.
They didn’t need to have a formal education to get to the point where they are right now. And they most certainly can do their work from home or literally any place in the world.
However, for this type of career, you need lots of practice, experience, and patience. It also helps to do certain online courses that teach you the skills you need.
If this is not the right path for you, then you can also go the traditional way and get a college degree. With this, you can truly become an expert in your field and charge higher rates due to your education and level of knowledge.
So both ways have their pros and cons. It’s up to you to decide what works best for you.
Your work style options with a college degree
No matter what college degree you want to get, you pretty much have 3 options after graduation:
- Get employed with a company
- Work as a freelancer for clients
- Start your own (online) business
Each of these work styles comes with its own advantages and disadvantages. Also, income potentials vary greatly between these options. It’s a good idea to sit down and evaluate which style you prefer.
College degrees that make you rich with remote jobs
Alright, now to the list. The way how I came up with these degrees was to look at high-paying remote jobs and see what you need to study to get these kinds of jobs. So here we go:
1. Computer Technology & Information Systems
When it comes to remote work, you simply can’t go wrong with any computer technology degree. Most of the jobs in this industry can easily be done online which means they are perfectly qualified for a work-from-home job.
On top of that, these jobs are in high demand due to the ever-growing digitalization. As with most jobs, the more focused you are on a niche, the higher your earning potentials.
If you specialize in, for instance, information security you could make about $110,000 to $130,000 per year. Another example would be being a software developer.
Here the average annual income is $98,000 according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
2. Graphic Design
Similar to IT jobs, graphic design is high in demand and qualifies perfectly for remote work. Many different departments are in need of customized graphics, such as for websites, apps, or marketing material.
That means you can need to be creative, detail-oriented, and be able to work with popular design software and tools, such as Adobe Photoshop, InDesign, or Sketch.
According to The Undercover Recruiter, you could make up to 76,910 USD per year as a graphic designer.
3. Business Management
Business Management has always been one of the highest-paying college degrees to have. With the rise of remote work, you can now do many business-related jobs from the comfort of your home office.
And the good thing is: It’s an extremely versatile field. With a bachelor’s or master’s in business, you could work as a business consultant, project manager, or in business development.
As a business analyst, for instance, you could make about $ 83,000 per year according to Glassdoor.
4. Marketing
I know that marketing jobs are not necessarily known to make big salaries. And if you work, e.g. as a marketing assistant in a small company, that’s probably true. But, again, if you specialize in a certain niche, you could increase your income significantly.
You could, for example, go for social media and help clients boost their Instagram pages. Another idea would be Facebook ads.
They can be extremely effective if done correctly and thus bring in a lot of money. That’s why many companies are willing to pay high prices for experts in that field.
Or you could focus on SEO and become an expert for search engine optimization. Ranking high on Google, Bing, and Yahoo and therefore getting lots of organic traffic is probably best for any company. According to PayScale, an SEO manager can make up to $102,000 per year.
5. Engineering
Now engineering is again a very broad field. But if you get any college degree in engineering your earning potential is definitely on the higher side.
If you go for a field such as mechanical or electrical engineering, you will definitely find it harder to make a remote income with it.
What I could think of in those cases would be starting a blog or YouTube channel and giving tips or detailed instructions.
But there are also many jobs in business, consulting, or logistics that can require an engineering degree. What could also easily be done from home is working as a technical writer, a software engineer, or a blockchain engineer.
As a blockchain engineer, you can make about $101,000 per year, according to Glassdoor. That’s definitely a high-paying job.
6. Finances
A college degree in finance is also a fairly safe choice if you want to find a high-paying job afterward. Here you need to be extremely good with numbers and need to have an understanding of economics and financial markets.
Finance jobs also often qualify as remote jobs since you can do many tasks online, from meetings to tools and software.
Possible fields could be investment banking, accounting, tax management, or day trading. If you decide to work as a controller, you could make somewhere between $155,000 and $297,000 per year. Now that’s what I call high-paying!
7. Mathematics
If you are good with numbers but don’t want to study finance in the first place, you could also consider a college degree in mathematics.
Some interesting jobs with that degree could be, again, actuary, economist, statistician, market researcher, or, you may have guessed it, mathematician.
All of the jobs are usually quite high-paying. For instance, if we look at an insurance underwriter you can make an average of $111,000 per year according to Zippia.
8. Psychology
If numbers are not really your thing and you rather want to focus more on the social aspect, then studying psychology could be a good choice for you.
High-paying fields are, for instance, a counseling psychologist, engineering psychologist, an industrial-organization psychologist, or a neuropsychologist.
How much can you earn? A Psychiatrist, for example, makes an average of $216,000 per year, according to Verywellmind.
And yes, you are right. Those kinds of jobs are usually done in person. However, with the rise of remote work, more and more tasks that are involved in these careers can be done online by using tools like video calls.
9. Law
We all know that having a college degree in law will most likely result in a good salary later on. Surviving the hard studies to become a tax attorney, trial lawyer, chief legal officer, or real estate attorney is almost a guarantee for a high-paying job.
For instance, as an employment attorney, you can earn up to $185,000 per year according to PayScale.
Luckily, many of the tasks that are involved in those job areas can be done from home with today’s technology. So it is not always necessary to go to the office.
10. Languages
Now let’s look at a totally different industry: languages. If you want to get a college degree in languages, you have many job options afterward: working as a translator, as an interpreter, being a voice-over, a product localization manager, or a teacher.
It’s easy to see how you can perform these tasks from the comfort of your own home. But how about your payment? After all, these jobs do not sound as high-paying as the before-mentioned, right?
That strongly depends on a few factors, such as the language pair you offer or your niche. For instance, if you work as a translator for English-Spanish you might not earn as much as a more uncommon combination, such as Japanese-German.
Or if you focus on general translations you will probably not earn as much as someone who specializes in translating complex legal documents.
To give you an example: Working as a medical interpreter could make you as much as $92,000 per year.
11. Journalism
If you are good with words but not necessarily with languages, then a college degree in journalism could be your thing. With that, you could go the most obvious route and work as a journalist or reporter for a newspaper.
But your possibilities don’t stop there. You could also become a content writer, copywriter, communications specialist, editor, technical writer, or social media manager. According to the SalaryExplorer, a journalist typically makes $110,000 per year.
Most of these jobs can easily be done from home today since tasks like research, writing, or team communications can be done online.
12. Medicine
Everyone knows that with a degree in medicine you can make a great income. However, most of the jobs in that industry that might come to your mind don’t exactly qualify as remote jobs. So how can you make money from home with a medical degree?
There are indeed a few options: As mentioned before, working as a psychiatrist pays extremely well and can be done online.
Other options include teleradiologist, medical director, medical transcriptionist, medical coder and biller, medical illustrator, insurance agent, or medical call center agent.
A medical writer, for instance, can make up to $102,000 per year, according to PayScale.
13. Entrepreneurship
Not many colleges offer a degree in entrepreneurship, yet. But the ones that do have a very interesting curriculum:
The study combines aspects of traditional degrees, such as business, finances, innovation, growth management, and creativity.
Some of them also have mentors from top startups, such as TransferWise, Taxify, or Toggl (you can find that at the Estonian Entrepreneurship University).
If you want to start your own business after graduating or be part of a startup and be a leader of a successful project, an entrepreneurship degree might be worth looking into.
And it goes without saying that many entrepreneurs or startups operate on a remote basis today. Distributed teams are the norm here. Your income completely depends on your success, six-, seven-, or even eight-figures are possible.
High-paying work-from-home jobs for college graduates
As you can see, there are plenty of college degrees that can make you rich working from home. You don’t need to commute to an office anymore and can still make a great income.
Even the degrees that don’t seem to be suitable for remote work, like medicine, offer some great possibilities.
You sometimes may have to think out of the box a little but high-paying remote jobs definitely exist.
In case you are wondering where to find companies or clients to work for after you’ve graduated, I highly recommend you to check out FlexJobs. Here you can find legit remote job offers from reputable companies, such as Apple or the American Red Cross.
If you want to work as a freelancer, there are also many online platforms that you could check out. My favorites are Upwork and Fiverr, where I also offer my services as a freelancer and find freelancers for my business.
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Thanks a lot for your lovely comment, John! I’m glad you like the article and find it helpful :)
Hi Denise,
Great post! I think all the degrees you shared are very helpful. It will be a helpful resource for all the students who are faced with difficult choices. I do have some kids in my family, and I will be sharing this article with them. I really liked how you added the earning potential from every degree. Also, the addition of Fiverr and Upwork was amazing, it will direct the students to the right platforms. Thanks a lot for taking the time to put together this article. It will be very helpful for several people out there.