To Grad School or not to Grad School

4965 Views 43 Replies 20 Participants Last post by DTO, Apr 28, 2013

webinfront

Discussion Starter · Oct 26, 2012

I'm new here - looking for opinions more or less.

My wife and I have been married a month now - but together over 4 years prior to getting married, own a house together and both have decent paying jobs. She's in retail and I've got a career job.

She finally finished her undergrad work and got a bachelor's degree this past spring and just got accepted to grad school. She told me it will cost around $15K before books before the entire degree and it's online so she at least doesn't have to move away for months at a time and leave me hanging to pay the mortgage. She plans on continuing to work full time which is good, however she just told me that she really wants to go "just to go and get better educated" with no real plans of pursuing a career in the degree she wants a masters in. Luckily it's not super expensive, but paying 15 grand + books for a masters and then not doing anything with it seems a bit foolish, especially when we have a mortgage and a fair amount of credit card debt.

I'd like for her to go and pursue her dream, but if she's most likely not going to at least try to get a job based on her credentials, is it just going to be a waste of money?

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Broken at 20

· #2 · Oct 26, 2012

Depends on the degree.

I am in accounting, and I know a Master's makes it easier to pass the CPA, which most places give you a $5k hiring bonus for it, and makes you stand out and more likely to receive promotions.

I know right now, BBA's are almost worthless, because so many people have them. A guy at my work had one. What did he do? Customer Service for a grocery store at $9.75 an hour.
MBA's are what you need to get ahead.

But also depends, because some degrees are worthless. Another person at my work has their masters...in classical English literature. Real useful there honey...

It all depends on the degree.

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Moiraine

· #3 · Oct 26, 2012

What does she hope to get out of this degree? When you say you want her to pursue her dream, what are her dreams?

webinfront

Discussion Starter · #4 · Oct 26, 2012

She wants to do a degree creative writing/english. Her ultimate goal is to be a published author/teacher. But the way she talked to me about it sounded like she wasn't really considering using the degree to pursue a career outside of retail, which concerns me. Like her exact words were "I just want to work on my writing and English skills." and all I can ask is "And then what?"

Moiraine

· #5 · Oct 26, 2012

Does she want to pursue her career as a creative writer while she's working full time in retail? Maybe she doesn't want to get a more time consuming job so she can focus on her writing.

webinfront

Discussion Starter · #6 · Oct 26, 2012

I'm unclear on that. I know she wants to get out of retail in a few years altogether and when she first talked about grad school she made it sound like she wanted the degree so she could get a better job, but now it sounds like she just wants a degree to say she has it? I don't know. Her current job pays her pretty well and she gets great benefits, so I don't know. Maybe she just doesn't know what she wants.

Moiraine

· #7 · Oct 26, 2012

How old are you two?

I think it's never easy to figure out what you want in life. If you guys have the money and her going to school will not put you two in financial hardship, then I say go for it. You never know what she can get out of this degree. She may eventually be an accomplished writer and make more than you will ever make

webinfront

Discussion Starter · #8 · Oct 26, 2012

Moiraine said:
How old are you two?

I think it's never easy to figure out what you want in life. If you guys have the money and her going to school will not put you two in financial hardship, then I say go for it. You never know what she can get out of this degree. She may eventually be an accomplished writer and make more than you will ever make

I'm almost 29 and she's almost 25. And yeah - the biggest thing that concerns me is credit debt coupled with a school loan and then our mortgage on top of that all. Though we wouldn't have to make payments until after she's done, which would be 2 years so that gives us time to pay that down to a more manageable level, plus we would most likely get an education credit in our tax return (which are awesome btw). I'm probably just over thinking the whole thing. I do hope she has success with getting a masters and get ahead and I'm with her every step of the way.

colotnk

· #9 · Oct 26, 2012

I'm a big advocate for education and I would say go for it if you guys don't have a lot of debts. Given that you have CC debts, I think it would make more sense to pay those off before she pursues a grad degree.

I don't see much negativity with her waiting a few years before going to grad school. Personally, I would lose motivation as I get older and more tied up with family and kids responsibilities. Given her age, I don't think it would be much of an issue for her.

DTO

· #10 · Oct 27, 2012

First of all, the cost of the program is not just financial. A Master's degree is 3 years of so part-time? That's three years of her balancing school and work, making time for you, while you pick up the slack around the home. Think long and hard before deciding that the significant disruption to your lives is worth it.

Secondly, check of the credentials of the school. You don't want to invest any time and money in an education with a poor reputation. IMO you want something with some esteem and marketability, and are better off saving up and spending more to get it.

On the other hand, if this is something purely for personal pleasure, and increasing her professional potential is besides the point, then she is in truth pursuing a hobby and it should be prioritized accordingly.

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Runs like Dog

· #11 · Oct 27, 2012

Graduate school should be able to pay for itself. If not, then, while it's a hobby, that's all it is.

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DTO

· #12 · Oct 27, 2012

Runs like Dog said:
Graduate school should be able to pay for itself. If not, then, while it's a hobby, that's all it is.

Agree. And that's true for all degrees and programs of study. I went to college to get a marketable degree and make a good living. I don't understand why people pursue obscure degrees without any intent of getting a job in the field, or go to expensive private schools that are marginally better (if not equal to or worse) than affordable public universities.

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Broken at 20

· #13 · Oct 28, 2012

webinfront said:
She wants to do a degree creative writing/english. Her ultimate goal is to be a published author/teacher. But the way she talked to me about it sounded like she wasn't really considering using the degree to pursue a career outside of retail, which concerns me. Like her exact words were "I just want to work on my writing and English skills." and all I can ask is "And then what?"

Just going to say it.

Worthless degree.

When I go to a job interview in several years (or hopefully sooner), I'll have a CPA and my masters in Accounting. A useful degree.

What can you do with a degree in creative writing?
Write creative stories about why my refrigerator and wallet are both empty. You aren't going to get a job with it.

Sorry if it sounds mean, but hey, it's life.

Michael A. Brown

· #14 · Oct 30, 2012

If your wife do have her stable job already, she can focus on it already even without getting on the grad school.

farside

· #15 · Oct 31, 2012

unless someone is independently wealthy, pursing an unnecessary graduate degree in this economy is pretty crazy. This is coming from someone with a law degree and six figures of debt that came with it.

Runs like Dog

· #16 · Oct 31, 2012

farside said:
unless someone is independently wealthy, pursing an unnecessary graduate degree in this economy is pretty crazy. This is coming from someone with a law degree and six figures of debt that came with it.

Ah yes the great fallacy. Everyone thinks all lawyers are multimillionaires whereas most of them go into the public sector or they hang out a shingle and squeak by. I must have had a hole in my head to put my wife through law school especially since she never practiced.

I keep telling to go into criminal defense.

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old pilot

· #17 · Oct 31, 2012

Creative writing? You gotta be kidding me. You married an idiot.
Look the posts here and you will see "Creative Writing."

turnera

· #18 · Nov 1, 2012

She's riding on your coat tails to get to have fun with college. If she were on her own, she wouldn't be getting a degree just for fun. She'd be paying down her debt and getting serious in her job or looking for a career job with her Bachelors. IIWY, I would say 'if you get a Masters in your field that you intend to work in - and that does NOT include trying to write and sell books - go for it. But I won't agree with a for-fun degree when we are in debt and will be starting a family in the next few years.

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SpinDaddy

· #19 · Nov 16, 2012

webinfront said:
. . . She told me it will cost around $15K before books before the entire degree and it's online . . .

Seems low. Not disrespecting on-line universities, I have a degree from one but . . . I generally don’t post it on my resume.

Broken at 20 said:
. . . I know right now, BBA's are almost worthless, because so many people have them. . .

Meh, MBAs are a dime a dozen too. Especially on-line MBAs.

webinfront said:
. . . She wants to do a degree creative writing/english. Her ultimate goal is to be a published author/teacher. . .

Sounds like good debt.

webinfront said:
. . . the biggest thing that concerns me is credit debt . . . Though we wouldn't have to make payments until after she's done . . . we would most likely get an education credit in our tax return

Yes, if you’ve got a bit of consumer debt you should consider busting chops to pay that down first. No payments but for a graduate degree interest will immediately accrue no? Yup, the credit will help. There are a couple options there look at them all.

Realistically, you’re looking at a bedroom set from Ethan Allen. For the skill set, she’d probably be just as well off participating in writing workshops. As a basis for teaching probably OK. She have or intends to obtain a teaching certificate? Or does she think she is going to teach at the college level – if so I’d recommend a brick and mortar degree.

What’s you objectives with regard to starting a family?

Six of one, half a dozen of the other. If you’re not crazy into consumer debt, don’t plan on kids for a while you both could spend your money on worse things.

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Woodchuck

· #20 · Nov 21, 2012

In todays economy, there are lots of prople with masters degrees sweating out their last unemployment check. At least your wife has skills in retail.

I have no respect for degrees, I went into the work force out of high school. I found out my pocket was being picked by labor unions and moved to a "right to work" state. I was almost immediately given an engineering position with a fortune 500 company......

During 45 years in manufacturing, I have seen incredible blunders by degreed individuals. I have interned young engineers, and showed them how the real world works

I have seen a quality engineer with a masters in "total quality management" measure parts by laying them on a xerox machine, xeroxing an image, and putting the calipers to the image....Sheesh......

I have a nephiew working on a degree in spanish, and a neice with a degree in Japanese...She works in a pizza joint

I concepted $9,000,000 automated assembly lines, and did design work on miniature spy submarines......My problem solving skills kept factories from shutting down.....If you own a chain saw with chain brake, U.L measures how quickly the brake stops the chain with a test fixture I designed....

My last position was at Denso corp. One of the largest OEM builders in the world. My first year annual performance review was "You made me look like a fuc#ing genius for hiring you".
Five years later my annual review was "You have the highest evaluation in your engineering department...

If I had gotten a degree, I might have sat on my a$$ waiting for the big money job I thought I was entitled to...

My advice is "before you go for a masters, learn something useful that you can earn a living at".....

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