Higher Education As a Social Ladder? Examination of Educational Debt and Salary in Social Work

Purpose:The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between educational debt burden and salary attainment among social workers. Education has been considered a key to reducing inequality in society by enhancing social mobility. However, in response to Federal-level policy change in the levels of Federal- and State-level support of higher education, the burden of student debt has increased (Mincozzi, 2005; Price, 2004). Without reasonable compensation/salary, higher education could be just one of the factors that exacerbate individual financial burden. Research is limited with regard to understanding the relationship between educational debt and salary in social work. Such relationship was clarified based on social work degree earned and race.

Methods:The online survey with 17 questions (e.g., demographics, social work degree earned, student debt, starting and current salaries) was sent to social workers in Ohio. We recruited participants by sending postcards to all members of the NASW Ohio chapter, by providing information on the NASW Ohio chapter website, and by mailing postcards to licensed social workers. Data collection occurred over a period of 14 months. Considering the non-normal distributions of the data, the Kruskal–Wallis test was conducted in addition to descriptive analysis.

Results:Respondents (n = 701) were largely white (85%) and female (88%). Most respondents had a MSW degree (71%). The starting salary of social workers with BSW ($22,590) was statistically significantly lower compared to the salary of social workers with MSW ($30,588) or DSW/PhD ($43,675). Also, the starting salary of social workers with MSW was statistically significantly lower compared to the salary of social workers with DSW/PhD (p<.05). The current salary of social workers showed the same trend (BSW $38,090; MSW $48,882, DSW/PhD $66,225). The educational debt burden of social workers with MSW ($38,159) was statistically significantly higher than the debt burden of social workers with BSW ($25,910) or DSW/PhD ($26,250) (p<.05). However, interestingly, the expected payback period was not statistically significantly different among all education groups. All levels of degrees reported their loan payback in less than 10 years. Regarding race, although there were no differences in starting and current salaries across different racial groups, African American social workers reported a larger amount of educational debt ($53,586) and a longer period of payback (14.4 yrs) compared to Caucasian social workers ($32,022; 8.7 yrs).

Implications: While limited by a different group size, this study contributes to knowledge about the relationships among social work degrees earned, race, educational debt, and salary. This study may allow for advocacy in comparing the salary to educational debt for social workers, especially for African American social workers. Higher education may contribute to improving opportunities for social mobility through higher compensation. However, a racial minority group may not enjoy this beneficial effect of higher education, indicating a steeper social ladder for them.