Falling Oil Prices Leave Petroleum Engineering Students Out In The Cold

A year ago, a petroleum engineering degree seemed like the ticket to a bright and well-paid future. With six-figure starting salaries for a bachelor’s degree and endless optimism about the shale revolution, enrollment climbed rapidly in petroleum engineering programs across the country. But now that the oil price slide has turned to an oil price slump, the luster is wearing off.

Oil Engineering Boom: Plenty Of Students, Not Enough Teachers

The country needs trained petroleum engineers, and students are flooding into mining schools and tech programs around the country looking for a way to cash in on the nation’s energy boom. The trouble is those high paying jobs are also luring would-be teachers and even current teachers away from academia and into the oil fields.