How does it compare to the demand for these degree holders? On the pie chart, engineering is 6% and social sciences is 8%. Engineering is barely bigger than communications, or than performing arts... and frankly I wonder what %%ge of business degrees are actually useful. The other stat merges all degrees together, but the entire STEM and healthcare is less than a third of all degrees. Add up all the useless degrees together (I, personally, would make it a value judgment too, but for this discussion useless can just mean "not cost effective"), and you can easily explain why so many people have trouble with student loans.