There are plenty of kids trooping back to school, bracing themselves for double maths or French, and counting the days until they can drop them both. But while systematically ditching the subjects you hate the most is definitely one way to choose your path through life, it may not be the most financially rewarding one. Because if you see your education as a stepping stone to riches beyond your wildest dreams, focusing on the creative arts might not cut the mustard.

The Department of Education does a study each year, looking at how graduates are doing financially, Overall, the average graduate makes £28,800 five years after graduation – around £3,000 a year more than the average for that age – and that gap will widen as time goes on. As a result, the HL Savings & Resilience Barometer shows that graduates are far more financially resilient than non-graduates on average. Higher earnings tend to mean more of them have enough money left over at the end of the month to be resilient. They’re also more likely to have enough emergency savings, be putting aside plenty in their pension, and to own their own home – around half do compared to a third of non-graduates.

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However, an awful lot depends on the subject you study. The latest figures show that the highest average salaries were commanded by those studying medicine at £52,900, followed by economists at £40,900, pharmacologists at £37,600 and engineers at £36,100. Meanwhile, those studying the performing arts made an average of just £21,200 five years after graduation. The five least financially rewarding subject areas were creative arts and design, agriculture, communications, psychology and history or philosophy.

A previous study by the IFS found that women who studied creative arts and languages earned the same amount during their lives as they would have if they hadn’t gone to university, while men who studied creative arts actually earned less than non-graduates.

If your child is wildly keen on less rewarding subjects, there’s at least some good news, because there’s a broad spread of incomes produced by each subject. Something like Business Studies, for example, can net anything from less than £20,000 to more than £70,000. It means there are at least some creative arts and design graduates making more than the lowest earners from every other subject – aside from medicine, dentistry and veterinary science – so you can still make your fortune, as long as you’re the exception to the rule.

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Your choice of subject is about more than just the income. There are plenty of people who loved their subject and have a job they’re passionate about, who don’t need huge salaries to make it worthwhile. It’s just that when you’re dropping £60,000 on a university education, the possibility of payback may well be a consideration somewhere along the line.

Of course, your choice of subject is about more than just the income. There are plenty of people who loved their subject and have a job they’re passionate about, who don’t need huge salaries to make it worthwhile. It’s just that when you’re dropping £60,000 on a university education, the possibility of payback may well be a consideration somewhere along the line.

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