Considering Grad School....but...

ellelit

well i'm broke, have a job that i am not liking and my mom's best friend keeps telling her that i should be a librarian. his wife is one and makes in the 80,000 a year range. can't frown on that lol.

so yesterday i did one of those "career aptitude tests" online and guess what. #1 job, legal research assistant. # 2 job, librarian/archivist.

so, i looked into the field, and it seems interesting and something i would like to do as a career. it's a 2 year masters program and the cost is approximately $15,000 plus living expenses and food.

what do you guys think i should do? i'm already 50,000 in debt from getting my BA, but there is little hope that i will ever make over 30,000 a year, considering my forte is writing. do you think i should take the plunge and go for more education? even though it will put me in more debt intially, it has the outlook of maknig me about 4 times yearly what i'm making now?

i make 24,000 a year, hate my job, and am resinged tothe fact that at this rate, i will never own a home, have very small savings and be crawling out of debt for the better part of 20 years.

anyhow, i'm thinking of goingto my university library and seeing if i can do some volunteer/work experience work on saturdays to gain experience and see if this is something i would like to pursue...

do you think this move is a good one? i'm not flaky, i promise lol, but it's alot of money to spend and i'm always cautious about going more into debt...

ellelit

well i'm broke, have a job that i am not liking and my mom's best friend keeps telling her that i should be a librarian. his wife is one and makes in the 80,000 a year range. can't frown on that lol.

so yesterday i did one of those "career aptitude tests" online and guess what. #1 job, legal research assistant. # 2 job, librarian/archivist.

so, i looked into the field, and it seems interesting and something i would like to do as a career. it's a 2 year masters program and the cost is approximately $15,000 plus living expenses and food.

what do you guys think i should do? i'm already 50,000 in debt from getting my BA, but there is little hope that i will ever make over 30,000 a year, considering my forte is writing. do you think i should take the plunge and go for more education? even though it will put me in more debt intially, it has the outlook of maknig me about 4 times yearly what i'm making now?

i make 24,000 a year, hate my job, and am resinged tothe fact that at this rate, i will never own a home, have very small savings and be crawling out of debt for the better part of 20 years.

anyhow, i'm thinking of goingto my university library and seeing if i can do some volunteer/work experience work on saturdays to gain experience and see if this is something i would like to pursue...

do you think this move is a good one? i'm not flaky, i promise lol, but it's alot of money to spend and i'm always cautious about going more into debt...

songbyrdsweet

Suze Orman, a famous financial adviser/stock broker, says that educational debt is 'good'.

That doesn't make me feel any better about my 20,000 debt despite having a scholarship.:grumble:

In any case, I think it depends on whether you need an MS/PhD. If you can make $80,000 a year without it, there's really no need, although it would probably be interesting to pursue a more specific educational interest.

I have decided to go to grad school because I need a PhD to become anything more than an assistant professor. My pay can go from $40k to $80K with that PhD, but without it, the 40K would most likely be my ceiling. Plus, I LOVE SCHOOL. Grad school allows me a little more time away from a crappy 9-5 or being stuck in retail half my life.:laugh:

yoginimary

My mother always says "money on school is never wasted". Good thing too, since I graduated with over 160 hours :laugh: You could apply for scholarships as well.

You'll never be sorry that you did it, only that you didn't. :bigsmile:

songbyrdsweet

My mother always says "money on school is never wasted". Good thing too, since I graduated with over 160 hours :laugh: You could apply for scholarships as well.

You'll never be sorry that you did it, only that you didn't. :bigsmile:

True, graduate-level money is much more attainable. I will be a teaching assistant getting my MA, and I'll make about 12K for nine months of work. Then when I'm on the PhD track, I can make up to 40k a year with a teaching fellowship. Those are other great reasons for me to go LOL.

astridfeline

Yes! Go back to school. If you're already broke, being in school will feel no different You won't be in a job you hate, but rather you'll have a new goal, something you might actually like and will make you more money. The economy is so bad right now you may as well be in school anyways. And ditto the Suze Orman advice: educational debt is good because you're investing in yourself and the interest on government loans are subsidized. I say go for it, if you like your volunteer experience.

AJCM

What is the likelihood that you will find a job, earning $60,000 or $80,000 upon graduation? If prospects are good, it makes sense. If it is scaled earning, take a look at the scale (for example, a teacher would only start at a small salary of $42,000 but in 10 years would be earning $94,000 - so on the long run it is worth it).

If your programme is $15,000 per year x 2 years + food and rent (e.g. $50,00 total) you should be able to pay that back in a few years.

Just a side note (not that this pertains to you Elle!)… Suze Orman also says that bouncing around from degree to degree in order to prolong “working / real life” is not good either. Gathering degrees (and debt upon the way) from which you will never earn money, become bad debt.

Good luck!
:flowerforyou:

ellelit

the progamme is 5000 per year plus books and student fees, so not that bad. i'm going to do the work experience. all it will cost me are a few saturdays!