I was once a computer science major. It lasted a week and did not involve taking any actual computer science courses. Then I came to my senses and studied literature and philosophy instead. That decision has affected my life in two significant ways: 1) I still can't properly allocate memory in C, and 2) I face the prospect of a lifetime filled with low-paying jobs.

From a financial perspective, this didn't look like such a boneheaded decision a few years later when the dot-com crash and subsequent mass migration of programming jobs to south Asia caused comp-sci students to bolt from their programs like horses from a barn fire. The Chronicle of Higher Education noted this development back in 2005, saying, "New data show students' interest in the discipline is in a free fall. The number of newly declared computer-science majors declined 32 percent from the fall of 2000 to the fall of 2004."

Students worried that good jobs were being outsourced or would otherwise be unavailable, and enrollment in computer science programs dropped. But, given the massive drop-off in the number of comp-sci students and the robust growth of IT in the US, the inevitable has now happened: computer science degrees are now worth some serious cash.

A recent study of post-college careers from the National Association of Colleges and Employers (also noted by the Chronicle) found that computer-science grads saw their average starting salary offers grow by 4.5 percent last year alone. The new average salary for a job right out of college is now $53,051. That's the highest amount this decade.

Every discipline is seeing raises, though humanities grads tend to receive offers in the $30,000s. Even the humble English major, the one who has to put up with the endless array of cracks about flipping burgers to pay the rent, saw a 1.7 percent increase last year to $31,924. Apparently, fast food pays more than it used to.

As salaries rise, especially in the better-paying disciplines, we may see the interest in comp-sci degrees surge again, possibly depressing wages and driving majors back out of the programs. For now, though, computer science looks like a well-paid place to be. As for English majors, well, if they value the cash, they can always write more about technology than about Cervantes.