If you have graduated with a bachelor's degree, you might be thinking about carrying on your education. You might not know what you want to do with a career yet, and the thought of graduate school can be quite appealing. It is true that those with a masters degree will earn more than those with just a bachelor's. Furthering your education can help improve your employability, as well as your skill set and knowledge. Plus, you get to go to https://www.jostens.com/graduation/college/ and get your cool graduate degree cap and gown. So there is no denying that it would be valuable to do. It isn’t always a guarantee that you will earn more. But some professions really would benefit from having a graduate degree. It would be quite lucrative for you if you want to law or medical school, for example. But is the cost of it all going to be worth it?
Unless your parents set you up with a RESP savings scheme, then you might already have quite a bit of debt from college already. So you might not want to add even more debt to what you have. That would need to be a discussion to have with family too. Are they able to help you out financially at all? There are a few options around it, though, if you have a little debt and can’t get help from family. Going to a private college could cost $40,000 a year. That is not even taking into account living expenses. So if graduate school is something you want to pursue, then you could look at attending public colleges. You could also think about living with family and attending somewhere local. If you can save on living costs, it can help a lot. You could also study part time, while you work full or part time. Then you get the best of both worlds, with some work experience thrown in. There are some financial aid schemes through certain colleges. So it could be worth looking into.
If you choose to go for a graduate degree, you would need to think about the potential of things that you could miss out on. You’d be missing out on a year or two’s worth of wages. You’d be missing out on being able to put money aside for savings. You’d be missing out on perhaps contributing to a pension. So these things need to be thought about. Are they worth ‘missing out’ on?
So the jury is still out as to if it is worth it or not. For some professions, it certainly would be worth it. A little debt and pain for long term gain, right? If you are thinking of graduate school just for something to do instead of getting a job. It might not be the best option for you. Just look into the cost of it all in great detail. You don’t want to be paying off credit card debt for years, just because you felt like getting a masters. It can be an easier decision to make when you figure out all the numbers. Good luck with your decision!
Brian McKay is a co-founder of zenruption. He has a B.A. in Political Science from Gonzaga University and an M.B.A. from Boise State University (yes that blue field). His goal in life is to look out for the regular guy and bring as much knowledge and change to this world as he can. His purpose in founding Zenruption was to do just that and help craft the world he wants his daughter to inherit. Please feel free to email him any feedback or article ideas at [email protected]. On twitter: @brianmckay71
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