dchandle15

I recently was accepted to Case Western Reserve University out in northeast Ohio. It's a top-10 ranked social work program in the country, and seems like a great opportunity to position myself for better employment someday. As good jobs in the field are very competitive, I've been led to believe that the program you attend really does matter. I'm looking to go into the clinical side of social work, doing mental health counseling, school counseling, and other clinical type work which has the most potential for earning significant income someday. However... I then learned about the cost. It will be $21,000/semester. They have offered me a scholarship of $20,000, plus a 4,000 reward for field work, which will be divided over the 4 semesters. That means 16,000/semester still needs to be accounted for. Summed up, unless I find further grants or funds to use, and accounting for living expenses while attending school, I'd get out of there with about 80,000 dollars worth of debt. Since you're doing field work the entire time in addition to schooling, you can't work, so your expenses will have to be covered by loans and the 4,000 in field work awards. All this means is that, no matter what, I'd be going into a lot of debt for a two-year Masters in Social Work. From those who understand the field, and how much it pays for those with good degrees versus how much I could earn with a lesser degree or trying to work my way up in an organization... will it be worth it to pay up all that money for a 2-year Masters Degree in Clinical Social Work?