Graduate School: Good time or bad with this economy?

I know this may not belong here, but I'm wondering with the way things are going if I should go forward and get my masters. Without going too in-depth I'll soon be graduating with my Bachelors of Science in Geography minoring in Economic Development.

One of my professors said that now is the best time to go to graduate school so that when you graduate you'll be in better economic times, but like we've seen here there may be no bottom, just slow progressions further down.

Ideally I'd like to go into college teaching later in life, but if there is no economy to support demand for college educators, I might have a hard time.

Basically this can be applied to anyone who is a senior in high school or college. Is now a good time to move forward with your education, or should we try to get a job now and start stockpiling?

You definitely have a big decision to make. One big consideration is will you have to pay for education with student loans or do you have a scholarship or free financial aid which will pay for your tuition?

Another thing to think about is how much is your bachelor's worth in terms of getting a good paying job in your field? Can you do much with it?

The reason I ask is I'm 7 classes away from a bachelor's in psychology, but that degree is basically worthless. I can get a job as a counselor making $10.00 an hour or so, but I make much more than that at the restaurant I work at.

In order for me to make decent money, I would need to get my master's degree. I thought about it, but I decided it's just not worth it. Tuition is incredibly expensive and it just keeps going up. The cost of financing grad school with students loans just don't seem to be worth it. Besides that, I only have time to take one class a semester, and by the time I finish at that rate, well...I'll be close to retirement age! LOL!

Many of the young servers I work with at the restaurant have recently graduated with their bachelor's degrees and are unable to find jobs in their field which pay much. That's something for you to think about. How much competition is there for jobs in your field and are there many jobs in your field to begin with?

Our economic future is quite uncertain, and as you say, there might not be much of a demand for college educators. If teaching is what you intend to do with your master's degree, then that's something else to consider.

I can't really tell you what's the best thing to do. I have no idea what the economy is like where you live, nor do I have any idea how hard jobs are to get right now in your location.

If you have a scholarship or can get free financial aid to finance your master's degree, then that's a big plus for you. Not having to go into debt to finance your education would give you an advantage.

If, on the other hand, you have large student loans to pay off after you graduate and aren't getting paid big bucks when you do land a job in your field, you may have a pretty difficult time. You certainly have a lot to think about. Good luck!

Dude...

Do your grad work and don't look back...

The opportunity may not come again...what were you going to do anyways..? Work..?

Well, most people doing their grad work have a job in conjunction with their classes anyways...you might lose out on the wage aspect, but the payoff in the future will far exceed your 'temporary' losses...





grmmra eitd!

[edit on 1/8/2009 by chapter29]

reply to post by chapter29


I totally agree.

There are people who don't get the chance to attend college and here you are wondering rather or not you should go to graduate school.

Speaking from a college sophmore point of view, I would have to say that you should go a head and go to graduate school. However, none of us on here can make that choice for you...it's all up to you.

[edit on 7-1-2009 by Rocketgirl]

For paying the bills I've seriously looked at getting an Assistantship. I've also talked with the Financial Aid director at my current university and he said that I should have no problem paying for Graduate school at least through my masters degree. Most Universities require a Ph.D to teach so that would be the eventual destination if I committed to this path.

People from my college who have graduated haven't had a hard time getting jobs if they've looked for them. Though they have mainly gone to technical workplaces like Garmin or a local surveying company which uses GIS.

When I was deciding on a major back my freshman year, I used the thought that studying geography was a logical thing to do since there will always be land and a need to understand its use (which lead to the Economic Development minor) and how we interact with it and each other. Little did I think that I'd be graduating into a bad economic season.

Hopefully that clarifies things a bit on my end, but what we should keep in mind is that (supposedly) education is an investment in ourselves (improving our human capital and therefore able to command a higher wage for our services) that will pay off only if there is a demand for our capital. Like you were talking about it being hard with a Psychology degree to get employment. Since right now there may not be as many firms hiring for that field, you are right in that whatever we decide may not be applicable to all.

Just remember - with current bankruptcy laws, you cannot discharge student loans. If you'd need loans, my personal thoughts (and I'm not a financial planner, etc etc etc) are that you might want to think long and hard about your ability to repay the loans. If you were to fall on hard times, you cannot get rid of the things.

Another issue to think about is that debt is very expensive in a deflationary environment. There are people on both sides of the fence as to whether we're looking at continued disinflation/deflation in the near future or whether we're looking at high inflation coming up.
I'll say this - the money is pointing to anywhere from 3-10 years of notable deflation. The bond market is not counting on inflation. I trust the bond market.

This is a very difficult time to make a decision such as this. There stands a good chance that tuition will come down, perhaps significantly, in the coming years. Unfortunately this is the standard deflation-trap: "Why buy today when it'll be cheaper tomorrow?"

reply to post by anachryon


Exactly why I thought to ask. Jeez the more I think about this the more it sounds like I should have gone to an investment forum or something.

I'm already in debt, but I have the "good" debt (the subsidized ones) and my field is only expanding if there is no society crash in the coming years that many are thinking is coming. So even if I were unable to get a teaching position its unlikely I wouldn't be able to get something else. I've made it a point in my education to be able to be a sort of intellectual handyman so I could have even data entry as a fall back option should things get really bad.

What you said about bankruptcy laws is very good advice. I hadn't thought of it while I was looking into all of this but it is helpful if someone else is reading this and is either entering college or is thinking of grad school themselves. Something else I'd add to that is consider your lifestyle now and where you want it to be in ten years (when you'll be paying the debt). I live rather slim (I do splurge on things, but its within a budget I've held myself to overall), and have no reason to believe that will change. Sure one day I'd like to have a house, but that's what saving is for. What I'm trying to say here is while I had thought a little about the debt, I hadn't stopped and put it into the big picture (bankruptcy is huge).

Up to almost 10 years for deflation huh? Great time to be a banker I guess. I wonder how this would impact education overall. I recently did a term paper on "education inflation" about how there are a growing number high school and B.S. holders and how this had devalued their education worth. It was fascinating to look into in real 2008 dollars as the B.S.'s average yearly worth was on a steady decline since the 1960's as supplies of B.S. holders increased.

Education during a meltdown, man did I pick the time to go to school eh?

I would say you absolutely should. It isnt like you are going to get a great job right now anyway, why not spend the time furthering your education and placing yourself in a great position for when the economy does turn around?

(And it eventually will, the whole cycle thing)

Go for it.

Edit to add;

Anachryon brings up good points about debt, but I just graduated from college with 0 student loans. (And no grants) Its called working your way through. Sure it takes longer, it took me six years instead of 4, but for me not having a huge amount of debt around my neck at graduation was worth it.

Just because most people take out loans and dont work full time doesnt mean you have to. I wasnt even working great jobs, but where there is a will there is a way. As a grad student there seems to be a lot more opportunity for funding as well, I am looking into it myself.

[edit on 8-1-2009 by Illusionsaregrander]