I’m working on my Bachelor’s Degree right now (I’m a Junior) in Psychology with a minor in Criminal Justice. I don’t want to have to go to grad school just to make a half-decent salary, so I’d like to go into the CJ field instead of Psych.

I’m currently doing an internship with probation and parole, which I like, but I recently found out the starting salary is only $26,000 and an agent I talked to had been there 8 years and was only making $31,000 per year. I’d at least like to make $30,000 starting out and I don’t think that’s too much to ask for a college grad with grades like mine and at least one summer internship.

I was thinking about applying to a federal probation agent job, because they get paid more, but I’m told it’s really hard to get a job there and you need 2 years of experience to even apply. I don’t want to be a police officer, though.

What entry level CJ careers that only require a bachelor’s degree and that actually have a decent salary? And I don’t mean statistics, I mean actual people that know. The average salary for probation/parole agents is around $40,000 in the US. But I live in South Carolina, so I’m screwed on that front. I’m referring to starting salaries.

It’s easy to say “I want to be an FBI agent or a crime scene investigator”...but landing a job like is probably not nearly as simple as it sounds. I’m willing and ready to work to find a job, but I don’t want 12 years of hard work to be for nothing. I can make $26,000 at my current bank job.