Count the whole cost
Tuition is the smaller half of the bill more often than people expect. The full cost of a degree is tuition and fees, plus living costs, plus the salary you give up while enrolled, plus the retirement contributions and raises that would have come with it. A two-year master's program at $40,000 a year, taken by someone who leaves a $55,000 job, costs about $190,000 before interest. If the degree raises your pay by $15,000 a year after tax, it takes more than twelve years to break even. If it raises your pay by $40,000, it takes fewer than five. Do that arithmetic first, with real salary figures from your field.
Who should be paying
Funding is a signal as well as a subsidy. In most academic fields a doctoral offer normally comes with a tuition waiver and a living stipend in exchange for teaching or research, and an unfunded doctoral offer deserves suspicion. Professional degrees in law, medicine and business are usually paid for by the student, mostly with loans, which makes the expected salary on the far side the whole question. A long-standing rule of thumb is to borrow no more in total than you expect to earn in your first year out. Federal borrowing limits for graduate students have been changing, so check the current caps on the federal student aid site before you assume loans will cover the full price.
Ask your employer what it offers before you resign. Many employers reimburse part of tuition for part-time study, federal law lets a portion of that arrive tax-free, and a slower degree with a paycheck often beats a faster one without.
Test the need
- Find ten people who hold the job you want and note how many of them have the degree.
- Ask two of them whether they would hire someone without it.
- Read postings to see whether the degree is listed as required, as preferred, or not at all.
- Check whether a license, a certificate or two more years of experience would open the same door for less.
The calendar
Begin about eighteen months before you intend to enroll. Most applications fall due between December and February for a fall start, scores on the major admissions tests generally remain valid for five years, and recommenders need at least a month of notice.
Tip Ask every program for its completion rate and for the median salary of recent graduates. A program that will not share them has told you something.
