The 31 colleges where students go on to earn the highest starting salaries

With the average student-loan debt currently hovering around $37,000, it makes perfect sense that students and parents consider average post-graduation earnings while looking at schools.

While pay potential shouldn't be the only thing that attracts you to a particular college or university, it is helpful to know what you can expect, in terms of pay, once you join the working world.

PayScale, the creator of the world's largest compensation database, recently looked at the starting and mid-career pay for over a million college grads - including professionals who graduated with a bachelor's from 963 colleges and universities.

For its College Salary Report, which was compiled using data from employees who successfully completed PayScale's employee survey, PayScale sorted the results by college major, degree, and school.

Here are the 31 colleges where students with a bachelor's degree go on to earn the most money in the first five years of their career: