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Secondly, there is no money in mechanical engineering.
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I am a Mechanical Engineer. I do get paid more than "no" money, or else I would do something else.
BLS wage data:
http://www.bls.gov/oes/oes_dl.htm
download the top link as an xcel file and sort it by annual wage. Engineering Managers make on average $105k/yr. If you want to make more, you pretty much need to be a doctor, dentist or lawyer. If you're talented, get lucky and work hard, you can make mangement in 7-10 years.
The average Mechanical Engineer makes $70k/yr and I would bet only works 40-45 hours a week. The people above that in wages are working long weeks, have highly stressful jobs, require advanced education, or are other engineering types.
People who make over 100k/yr earn it by having skills that few other people posses. Companies don't just hand out that much money to anyone just because it's chump change compared to what some people make.
An ME degree will give you lots of flexibility after you graduate. If you combine it with another degree like MBA or law or finance, you will be worth a lot of money to someone.
Don't get too concerned about wages right out of school. You're not worth much in engineering until you have 3-5 years of experience. Before that, you just won't be able to contribute much to projects because you will lack experience. As you prove yourself, gain technical knowledge, are able to work on your own and be valueable on projects, you can start to look around for other employers and make a lot more money with your barganing power.