15 college courses that may not land you a high-paying job

Here's one tip to remember when choosing a college major: Passion should always trump paycheck.

That's especially important to keep in mind if you're interested in working with children, since college majors like elementary education and child development have some of the lowest starting salaries.

Payscale, the creator of the world's largest compensation database, recently looked at the starting pay for millions of professionals and sorted the results by college major to find who earns the least right out of school.

1. Early Childhood Education

Median starting pay: $29,700
Median mid-career pay: $38,000
% change from starting to mid-career: +27.9%

2. Child and Family Studies

Median starting pay: $31,200
Median mid-career pay: $38,600
% change from starting to mid-career: +23.7%

3. Culinary Arts

Median starting pay: $31,900
Median mid-career pay: $50,800
% change from starting to mid-career: +59.2%

4. Child Development

Median starting pay: $32,200
Median mid-career pay: $36,400
% change from starting to mid-career: +13.0%

5. Early Childhood and Elementary Education

Median starting pay: $32,300
Median mid-career pay: $40,400
% change from starting to mid-career: +25.1%

6. Social Work

Median starting pay: $32,800
Median mid-career pay: $46,600
% change from starting to mid-career: +42.1%

7. Music Teacher Education

Median starting pay: $33,300
Median mid-career pay: $57,500
% change from starting to mid-career: +72.7%

8. Elementary Education (tie)

Median starting pay: $33,600
Median mid-career pay: $45,500
% change from starting to mid-career: +35.4%

9. Broadcast Communication (tie)

Median starting pay: $33,600
Median mid-career pay: $61,600
% change from starting to mid-career: +83.3%

10. Human Services

Median starting pay: $33,800
Median mid-career pay: $41,300
% change from starting to mid-career: +22.2%

11. Culinary Arts and Culinary Management

Median starting pay: $33,900
Median mid-career pay: $55,300
% change from starting to mid-career: +63.1%

12. Exercise Science

Median starting pay: $34,400
Median mid-career pay: $53,400
% change from starting to mid-career: +55.2%

13. Special Education (tie)

Median starting pay: $34,500
Median mid-career pay: $46,800
% change from starting to mid-career: +35.7%

13. Therapeutic Recreation (tie)

Median starting pay: $34,500
Median mid-career pay: $46,900
% change from starting to mid-career: +35.9%

15. Biblical Studies

Median starting pay: $34,900
Median mid-career pay: $48,500
% change from starting to mid-career: +39.0%