You Don't Need A Medical Degree To Make A Ton Of Money In Health Care

A career in health care can be rewarding and lucrative, but many of the highest-paying jobs in medicine require a lengthy commitment to medical school. Fortunately, there are also options you can pursue if you'd like to make "a ton of money in health care" without spending a lot of time earning a medical degree. From administrative roles to being a medical assistant, the health care industry has plenty of need for positions that fall outside what most people think of when they consider working in health care.

CNBC recently published an article about a 32-year-old woman making more than $100,000 per year who didn't get a medical degree. After graduating with a bachelor's degree in medical laboratory science, she discovered she could earn a master's degree from Duke University School of Medicine in just two years. The master's degree allowed her to enter the medical field in a position as a pathologist's assistant, which is an in-demand health care field.

This is just one example where you don't need a medical degree to make a ton of money in health care, but there are lots of other options out there. Making a ton of money can look different to everyone, but this article will focus on non-medical degree jobs in health care with an average salary of $60,000 or more. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics provides data on earning potential and demand for most careers and served as the source for the below information.

Earning a bachelor's degree typically requires about four years of college, but it can take longer depending on whether you attend courses full- or part-time. It's important to consult administrators at your preferred college to ensure that training for your chosen career path in health care is available at your school. Because not all degrees are available from every institution, you'll need to carefully look into your options and choose one that makes the most sense.

That said, if it's available at your university, you could earn a bachelor's degree to become a clinical laboratory technologist. In this role, you could earn $61,890 per year on average, with those in the top 10% making up to $97,990 per year. Another excellent health care career option you can pursue with a bachelor's degree is as a dietitian or nutritionist. The median salary for this role is $69,680 per year, with those in the top range making as much as $98,830 per year.

Another medical field that only requires a bachelor's degree is biomedical engineering. These professionals can earn a yearly salary of $106,950 per year on average, with top earners making up to $165,060 per year. In addition, as a medical and health services manager, you could make an average yearly salary of $117,960 with just a bachelor's degree, with the highest pay for this role being as much as $219,080 per year. These are just a few health care career options that don't require an advanced medical degree.

Some health care jobs that pay well and don't require a medical degree require even less schooling. In fact, you can get a health care job that pays an excellent wage with only an associate's degree, which is typically a two-year program. For example, with this degree, you could become a dental hygienist. The average salary for a dental hygienist is $94,260 per year, and it's possible to work your way up to earning more than $120,000 per year. Radiation therapist is another health care role you can obtain with an associate's degree, and it offers an average yearly salary of $101,990. Gaining high levels of experience as a radiation therapist could even allow you to earn as much as $141,550 per year.

For certain jobs, you may not even need a college degree to earn high pay. These positions may not have salaries as high as some of the others mentioned, but the time commitment to school is also not as long. To become a licensed practical nurse, for instance, you'll only need to complete a state-approved educational program, many of which take about one year. With this licensing, you could earn a median pay of $62,340 per year, whereas the highest-earning LPNs can make more than $80,000 per year. This data suggests that the median net worth of people with some college will end up being higher than those without any education at all, but you definitely don't have to go to medical school to get paid well in health care.