I used philosophy major as an example. Perchance somewhat hastily. What I really meant to say, that there is a certain number of majors that are considered easy and give degrees that confer no substantial benefit in modern workforce. Those majors become default goto majors for people who do not know what to do and people who simply want to do as little as possible.

Point them out and give us a percentage. On top of that it would be nice to see the number of students relying on loans in your category of majors--I suspect (from personal experience) that more well-to-do people would major in Latin or Art History.

I do not have exact study major by major, however here is a summary of a study based on a sample of few recent grads: http://www.accountingprincipals.com/Documents/downloads/api-...

Slide 13 is of particular interest, almost a third of all graduates wish they could:

a. Pursue more scholarship opportunities. While there is obvious parallel to reduction of their net debt, I also take this point as motivation to study harder (Quite a few of scholarships are merit based).

b. Pursue a different major. It is no secret that some majors have jobs out there that have high starting salaries.

c. Getting a job while in college. This is another work harder point.

http://blogs.wsj.com/atwork/2013/04/29/and-the-highest-paid-...

Here you can see jobs that pay well. I think it is safe to say, that significant portion of people who want to switch majors did not choose one of the well paying majors. AFAIK every single one of those top paying majors requires you to study hard.