Comments on: Why Graduate Degrees Are a Rip Off: Crunching the Numbers

By: G.E. Miller

G.E. Miller — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 11:58:13 +0000

@ Natalie – pharmacists do make really good money right out of school, so your profession may be one of those where the math works out in your favor. But that’s a family decision.

By: Natalie

Natalie — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 04:12:11 +0000

I’m facing this dilemma currently. I’m about to graduate with a bachelor’s in Biology. This qualifies me to do very little at a salary of about $35,000/yr if I’m lucky. I’d really like to go to pharmacy school, but the local school costs about $40k/yr and is condensed into 3 years of study. I’m daunted by the cost, but after graduation I can easily make $80-100k. I’m currently a stay at home mom, so there is no real opportunity cost with lost wages. So, is $120k education (paid for completely with loans) worth a $100k/yr job? I think so, but it’s still frightening to me when our household income is currently only $36k.

By: brian d

brian d — Sat, 29 May 2010 04:46:55 +0000

I am pursuing my MBA online. The company that I currently work for reimburses $5250 per year. Most large companies reimburse this amount because it is a tax break for them. I have to stretch it out for several years to get the company to pay for it all.

Who knows if a masters degree is worth it or not. At least it is an investment in your understanding of the world. It is a credential that shows people that you were motivated enough to take time out of your life in pursuit of knowledge.

I think the MBA is like an Associates degree. You dont get any license or certification with your MBA. It just gives the student a broad general scope of the business world. It gives you the tools to operate effectively and comfortably in a business environment. Companies need people that can communicate in a variety of settings.

Peoples abilities are different. Just because employee 1 who has an undergrad degree can outperform employee 2 who has a Masters, does not justify bashing Masters degrees in general. I am sure that there are plenty of white belt Karate students that can win in a fight against a black belt.

YOU WANT TO SAVE SOME REAL MONEY? Live like a tightwad and pay off your house early.

By: Allyson

Allyson — Sat, 29 May 2010 03:47:44 +0000

Clearly if you’re only looking at it from a monetary gain standpoint, you have to look at how much net income you’ll have after obtaining a master’s.

You speak of getting an MBA not being worth your time/money spent, but in other fields of study it’s vastly different.

As an RN you can make 35-40k, but take one to two years to get a master’s and you can easily pull in 60-80k as a nurse practitioner or even 100-120k as a nurse anesthetist. I’d say it’s worth the cost of tuition (25-50k).

And to address another post: There is no tangible difference in the education between a nurse who holds a bachelor’s vs. a nurse that holds an associate’s degree. None. The idea that an associate’s gives you more hands on knowledge is laughable, however. There’s a reason why those programs are being weeded out.

Also if a person has any ideas of going to graduate school in the nursing field you HAVE to have a bachelor’s degree to continue. Get the bachelor’s, work a few years to catch up on loans and then get a master’s. You can triple your salary in less than 10 years and you’d be crazy not to.

By: Leah

Leah — Mon, 24 May 2010 05:54:24 +0000

To add to my post, I would like to say that I think it’s actually the bachelor’s degree that is a rip off. I felt like I could have skipped my bachelors all together and just gone straight into grad school. Also, so many undergraduates are all about partying, and there’s no cumulative exams like there is in grad school, it’s easy to get a degree without learning much.

By: Leah

Leah — Mon, 24 May 2010 05:50:36 +0000

Well, I am a new reader, and felt compelled to leave a comment. There are certainly professions that REQUIRE a graduate degree. You cannot graduate with a bachelors and become a doctor or lawyer, neither can you graduate with a bachelors and be a biostatistician. Which is the field in which I am getting my graduate degree. Some fields are highly technical or dense, and it’s just not possible to perform the job properly with only a bachelors degree. For someone like me graduate school is definitely not a rip-off, because I get a fee waiver for my tuition, and free healthcare, and a stipend. It’s true that I’m losing money because I’m not “working”, but my employment possibilities are vastly improved with the degree, so the upside far outweighs the downside.

By: IF Castillo

IF Castillo — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 02:15:37 +0000

I second the Financial Samurai. I went to school in the evening, my employer paid for it. It was difficult working fulltime, traveling for work and going to going to school in the evening plus all the group work which at times was torture. The skills that I got at Johns Hopkins’ MBA have opened new ways that I never thought were possible. Not everything in life can be measured in financial terms but in the intellectual growth, appreciation and understanding of so many different things. I once read that the MBA was like guerrila warfare that prepare one for many, many things.

By: Karen

Karen — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 02:01:03 +0000

Did you take Economics as an undergrad? Averages mean very little. It is the marginal change that matters. With a graduate degree your salary continues to rise longer into your work life. The peak is also at a high level. But, your point about the cost of a graduate degree is well taken. Using the time value of money, within a five year time horizon, at 2.5% expected inflation, an MBA is not worth much more than $25,000. Unless, the networks formed in grad school lead to opportunities equal or exceed the nominal cost of the degree minus $25,000.

By: Mark

Mark — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 15:38:51 +0000

I wasted two years of my life pursuing a graduate degree, which I don’t believe helped me get my job in public administration. All it did was postpone the date of my hiring, and thus the date of my retirement. I could have been receiving a full pension at this time had I started working after receiving my B.A., but instead I’ll have to work for 2 more years and receive a reduced pension.

By: Nicole

Nicole — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 11:19:55 +0000

I’d rather open up my own business and learn from first-hand experience instead of spending the time to get an MBA degree. But if you don’t plan on starting your own company, then an MBA can help.