Most articles about choosing a college course focus on the upside — the best-paying fields, the highest-demand graduates, the courses everyone's chasing. There's much less written about the other end of the scale: the courses where, on average, the financial return is weakest relative to the cost and time involved.
This isn't a list of "bad" courses. It's a list of courses where, if salary and payback period matter to you, the numbers tend to be less favourable — and where it's worth going in with your eyes open.
Why this is worth talking about honestly
Every year, students choose courses based on subjects they love, often without much sense of what the financial picture looks like afterwards. That's a completely valid way to choose — but it works best when it's a choice, not a surprise four years later.
What tends to drive low ROI in Ireland
A few patterns show up repeatedly in fields with weaker financial returns:
- Long training pipelines with modest pay at each stage — fields where you need several years of further study or low-paid placements before reaching a salary that reflects your qualification level.
- Oversupply relative to specialist roles — fields that attract large numbers of graduates each year, but where the number of well-paid specialist positions is comparatively small, so average outcomes get pulled down.
- A postgraduate qualification is the real entry point — courses where the undergraduate degree on its own doesn't lead to the career most graduates actually want, meaning the "real" cost includes a master's or further qualification not captured in the original degree's price tag.
- Sectors with structurally lower pay scales — some valuable, in-demand careers simply sit on pay scales (often public-sector or charity-sector linked) that are lower than equivalent-length degrees in other fields.
Where the numbers tend to look weakest
Without naming specific courses here (run any course you're considering through the calculator to see its actual numbers), the pattern tends to hold across:
| Indicator | Typical pattern in lower-ROI courses |
|---|---|
| Starting salary | [INSERT] |
| 5-year salary growth | [INSERT] |
| Payback period | [INSERT] |
[INSERT GRADUATE SALARY FROM CALCULATOR] — the gap between the strongest and weakest courses on these measures is often larger than students expect, which is exactly why it's worth checking before you commit rather than after.
What to do with this information
If a course you're considering turns out to have a lower ROI, you have a few honest options, and none of them is "don't study it":
- Go in informed. Know roughly what the payback period looks like and plan your finances — accommodation, part-time work, postgraduate costs — around that reality rather than being surprised by it later.
- Consider the route, not just the subject. Sometimes the same subject area has multiple routes in (different colleges, different course structures, with vs. without a placement year) that affect the financial picture meaningfully. See our comparison of Trinity vs UCD graduate salaries for an example of how this plays out between two universities.
- Weigh it against what you'd give up elsewhere. If you're choosing between a course you love with a longer payback period and a course you're indifferent to with a shorter one, that's a real trade-off worth making consciously — see our guide on how to pick a CAO course in 2026 for a framework that doesn't just optimise for salary.
The bottom line
Low ROI isn't a red flag on its own — it's one piece of information among several. The goal of publishing this kind of data isn't to steer everyone towards the highest-paying courses; it's to make sure nobody finds out about a long payback period for the first time five years after they've already started repaying it.
See starting salary, 5-year salary, ROI and payback period for any of the 70+ courses on the CAO — free, no sign-up required.
Open the ROI CalculatorFrequently asked questions
What does "low ROI" actually mean for a degree?
Low ROI means the financial return — typically measured as graduate salary relative to the cost and time invested in the degree — is weaker than average compared to other courses. It does not mean the subject lacks value in other ways, only that the financial payback is slower or smaller.
Does a low-ROI degree mean I shouldn't study it?
Not necessarily. Many people study low-ROI subjects because of genuine interest, vocational calling, or because the career path matters more to them than salary. The point of looking at ROI isn't to rule courses out — it's to make sure you're choosing with full information, especially if cost is a concern.
Why do some degrees have lower ROI than others?
It usually comes down to a mismatch between the cost and length of the course and the typical starting salary in that field, often combined with a job market where pay progression is slower or where a postgraduate qualification is effectively required to reach better-paid roles.
How can I check the ROI for a specific course before applying?
Use a free tool like the roicollege.ie calculator, which compares starting salary, 5-year salary and payback period across more than 70 Irish CAO courses, so you can see exactly where a course you're considering falls before you submit your CAO form.