With my Ph.D., I am currently making approximately the same salary that my mother made 25 years ago as a newly arrived immigrant. Both of my parents, who were highly educated in their home country had to take jobs far below their qualifications in the U.S., because those were the only jobs available to them as immigrants. Their sacrifice was for the hope of a better future for their children.  They always encouraged us to pursue higher education and I did.  Here I am, 25 years and a Ph.D. later, back to the same place that my parents were when we first arrived to the U.S.