These college majors will actually cost you extra

You may not want to even think about deciding on a major already, but you should probably be thinking about this. Even though the cost of tuition doesn’t fluctuate based on the major you choose, the overall cost of your education might. Priceonomics took a look at textbook data from the University of Virginia to determine which majors rack up the most $$$ when it comes to the cost of textbooks, and the numbers aren’t pretty.

The most expensive major appears to be economics, with textbooks costing a whopping $317 per class, meaning econ majors could spend something like $1,268 per semester.

Lots of other math and science majors follow suit, with books for chemistry, physics and psychology all costing up to $262 per class on average. African-American studies is the most affordable major when it comes to book costs, with $80 worth of books per class. You can read the full list below:

In general, it seems like the hard sciences take the highest financial toll, with the humanities and the arts settling down around the bottom of the list — the one exception being languages, which take second place at $268 per class.

This doesn’t necessarily mean that science majors read any more books than, say, English, but that one science textbook can cost more than an entire Lit class syllabus. Priceonomics broke down these prices as well, and found that one chemistry textbook can cost a whopping $406 if you buy it new.

This may seem like bummer news. College is something you should be excited about! However, with this information on file, it means you can start planning ahead or budgeting your expenses, especially if you know you want to pursue a major with pricey textbooks. Money is stressful, but school is important, and it can never hurt to stay on top of things!

(Images via Shutterstock and Priceonomics)