The summer holidays have finally ended, and across America college students are returning to campus. But not before someone—most likely mom or dad—has written a hefty tuition check. If you’re a parent going into hock to pay for your son or daughter’s degree in English lit, you may be feeling a mite anxious about what you are getting for all those dollars.

A just-released Bankrate study won’t make you feel any better. In a ranking of 162 college majors by median income and unemployment rate, English majors landed among the...