Is paying full-price worth a MA degree?

[froggerz9]

I have been accepted at NYU, Denver, and Georgetown. Georgetown has not released funding information yet, but I am not eligible for funding at the other two schools. I'm well aware of the "education is an investment" argument, but is anyone else in this boat?? It's hard to justify 80,000-100,000 in loans for a 1.5-2yr degree. Starting to question whether grad school will be worth it...

[OkayforNow]

Wow, that's a lot of money. I would really have to reconsider going back if it was going to cost me that much. I want to be a teacher so i will not be making all that much once I get out. How come you are not eligible for any funding? Is there any other assistance that you could get?

[kotov]

I would say no. That's a lot of debt to overcome in a tough job market, particularly in the humanities. I'd advise against it.

[psi456]

School is great fun and I loved every minute of my masters degree that I took plus it kind of led me to my current job. However, I was half funded and at a state school which made it even cheaper. Without that, I don't think it would've been worth it to me...

[froggerz9]

Wow, that's a lot of money. I would really have to reconsider going back if it was going to cost me that much. I want to be a teacher so i will not be making all that much once I get out. How come you are not eligible for any funding? Is there any other assistance that you could get?

I would guess my GRE was too low. I (think I had?) had a pretty solid application otherwise.

Most other scholarships I have been able to find through the University are past the deadline (would have applied had I been admitted sooner).

I guess my other option at this point is perhaps trying to defer admission for a year and working to save up some money?

[jedi76]

I got into Denver back when I was applying for MA programs and opted to choose a state school in OR instead as it was $10k total tuition vs. $70k tuition (state school offered me funding). Now I've got my MA and am in the boat of people struggling to get into PhD programs and/or get a job and really glad my debt is relatively low. Maybe check out more scholarship options or contact the schools' financial aid offices for more info? Reapply to some different schools next year? Getting a MA was an awesome experience and I'd never tell anyone not to do it but I personally would have been super bummed to go $80k in debt for it.

[michpc]

I may be a dissenter here, but yeah I think it's worth it. If you know this is truly what you want to do, then it is an investment. Many people will pay the same or more than that in car loans in their lifetime, and that's a car, not your life. But ultimately, it's whether YOU think it's worth it or not.

[one eyed rex]

Don't do it. That's a huge load of debt to take on for a degree.

[jordanami]

There is a formula for calculating your student debt/expected salary ratio. You can probably Google it, but they recommend $80,000 salary to meet $40,000 in debt. Of course, if nothing else will satisfy you, that is what you'll want to do, but if you might be happy with something else, you may want to avoid the debt. There must be some less expensive option available to you (?).

[ZeChocMoose]

I would guess my GRE was too low. I (think I had?) had a pretty solid application otherwise.

Most other scholarships I have been able to find through the University are past the deadline (would have applied had I been admitted sooner).

I guess my other option at this point is perhaps trying to defer admission for a year and working to save up some money?

I am not sure if even working a year to save up money is going to put a dent in the 80 - 100K. Is that just the tuition? Or is it tuition and living expenses?

If it was me and I was faced with self-funding my master's degree in the humanities, I think I would pass on this year. In the meantime, I would retake the GRE to see if I can get a high enough score to secure some fellowships or TA/RA positions from the school. If I was a US citizen, I would look at my home state to see if they had programs that I am interested in since their tuition is usually more affordable. I also would look at more schools to see if they typically offer funding to their master's students.

In my opinion, 80-100K just seems like a lot of debt to me especially in the humanities where salaries are typically lower.

[The Dudester]

If that expenditure on the MA is going to pay off in applying to a PhD, it may be worth it.

[DCHopeful]

Not to take away from the OP, but I am possibly in a similar situation (I haven't heard back officially, but I'm not hopeful).

It seems that the consensus is No for 80k, but what about 45k?

That would only be for tuition. I'm assuming I can work and cover my own living expenses, so as not to add more to that. Does that seem reasonable?

[lasgirl]

Honestly, for me (and I know you're applying for the same types of programs), I had made up my mind before even applying that if I couldn't find funding to at least cover tuition (and then maybe look at on-campus employment to cover housing and such, maaaaybe taking out a loan to help cover those) that I wouldn't attend. I was lucky enough to get a couple of funded offers but I would have had a terrible time justifying paying for it!

[froggerz9]

Yes, that amount includes living expenses, it was the university's "estimated cost of attendance."

I expect to get a part-time job, but the school is in New York, so I'm not even sure that working part-time could cover my living expenses. Maybe if I were to find a cheap studio outside the city and commute/find roommates.

Even so, that leaves me barely breaking even on living expenses and with around 50,000 in tuition debt.

[froggerz9]

Honestly, for me (and I know you're applying for the same types of programs), I had made up my mind before even applying that if I couldn't find funding to at least cover tuition (and then maybe look at on-campus employment to cover housing and such, maaaaybe taking out a loan to help cover those) that I wouldn't attend. I was lucky enough to get a couple of funded offers but I would have had a terrible time justifying paying for it!

Haha, if you don't accept the offer at NYU maybe suggest they pass your funding along elsewhere

[OkayforNow]

Yeah, I would definitely look at your earning potential once you are out of school.

[Golden Monkey]

I would guess my GRE was too low. I (think I had?) had a pretty solid application otherwise.

Most other scholarships I have been able to find through the University are past the deadline (would have applied had I been admitted sooner).

I guess my other option at this point is perhaps trying to defer admission for a year and working to save up some money?

I think I'd suggest going that route. FWIW, I actually waited (and waited and waited) until I had enough money put away so that I knew I could pay off my student loan at any time. Of course, that also made me 12 years older than everyone else, so I don't necessarily suggest going to these extremes. But then after starting the program, a university job opened up, and I took that and got almost-free tuition as a result. So I finished my master's (about $88k worth,) with only a very small loan, which I paid off.

If you reapply next year, perhaps you'll get more financial aid/funding the second time around, or you could look for a university job, which gets you free/discounted tuition.

[froggerz9]

Thanks for the thoughts!

Has anyone had any experience with deferred admission?

Or reapplying to the same school in a subsequent application cycle?

Just wondering if these would help or hurt my chances for admission and/or funding...

[Polly_Sigh]

I find the best way to think about it is in terms of what your monthly payments will be when you get out of school. on the low end, if you come out of school with a debt balance of $80K and have a 20 year payback schedule, you will owe nearly $650.00 each and every month. and that is only paying the minimum amounts. If you think that you can handle $650 in minimum debt payments each month on top of all other living expenses (and hopefully some savings!!) then go for it, but that will require a very substantial, secure salary. If you want to continue going to school after the MA, then would you really want to tack more debt onto that? if you want to go into a lower-paying job, then could you realistically afford it? those are the questions to consider. it's easy to fall into the "i really want this degree and the i'll deal with the debt when the time comes." but in the end, once those monthly bills start rolling in, you may really regret it. my advice would be to either find a lower cost school, or go part-time while working full-time, get a job that provides tuition benefits, or put off school until you have some other sources of funding lined up. there are my two cents! Good Luck!!

I have been accepted at NYU, Denver, and Georgetown. Georgetown has not released funding information yet, but I am not eligible for funding at the other two schools. I'm well aware of the "education is an investment" argument, but is anyone else in this boat?? It's hard to justify 80,000-100,000 in loans for a 1.5-2yr degree. Starting to question whether grad school will be worth it...

Edited March 11, 2011 by Polly_Sigh

[warpspeed]

I'm in the same (granted less expensive boat). I'm looking at getting a 28k loan to do my masters. I'm not sure there's much I can do for my application package other than get a masters though. Its from a top tier school that has excellent placement in PhD programs from everything I've seen, most getting full funding from a top schools. I'm viewing this as a trade off in the long run. I have no undergrad debt and a new car that I paid for in cash, so I don't forsee any loans in my future. I figure 30k with better odds to get into a grad program that will fund me rather than one I would only get partial funding or have to work full time on campus as well.

[Polly_Sigh]

In your case that seems very worthwhile and much less risky. A 20 year $30K loan would require monthly payments of less than $200.00 per month, once your are out of grad school (it would be defferred all through your PhD program). so that's a much more reasonable debt committment to have upon graduating, especially if it will allow you to get a fully funded PhD offer. plus you'd likely be able to pay off the principal faster than 20 years once you start working full-time.

I'm in the same (granted less expensive boat). I'm looking at getting a 28k loan to do my masters. I'm not sure there's much I can do for my application package other than get a masters though. Its from a top tier school that has excellent placement in PhD programs from everything I've seen, most getting full funding from a top schools. I'm viewing this as a trade off in the long run. I have no undergrad debt and a new car that I paid for in cash, so I don't forsee any loans in my future. I figure 30k with better odds to get into a grad program that will fund me rather than one I would only get partial funding or have to work full time on campus as well.

[nogone]

That's a pretty high price to pay for a Masters. A portion of that will be (I think!) beyond the normal Stafford Loans which I think are capped at around $16500 a year for graduate students, so you're getting into risky risky territory as far as repayment goes.

I say this as someone with a little more life experience than someone right out of undergrad. I have seen friends lives literally derailed by massive student loans. Loans are not something to be taken light heatedly or absentmindedly. Wanting to do something badly for two years is not enough of a reason to saddle yourself with insurmountable debt for 20 or 30 years. Even law school has been a risky bet in the last few years as far as loan repayment in light of the current job market. I would think really really hard about my future before I took out anything more than 20k for a masters.

[ZeChocMoose]

In your case that seems very worthwhile and much less risky. A 20 year $30K loan would require monthly payments of less than $200.00 per month, once your are out of grad school (it would be defferred all through your PhD program). so that's a much more reasonable debt committment to have upon graduating, especially if it will allow you to get a fully funded PhD offer. plus you'd likely be able to pay off the principal faster than 20 years once you start working full-time.

I am not so sure that warpspeed will have 20 years to repay the loans, Polly Sigh. From what I glean from the federal financial aid website, you need to borrow more than 30K to be able to extend your payments longer than 10 years. So if you borrow 28K, you'll have 10 years to pay it off which equals to about $320 per month (at 6.8% interest).

There is also the income-based repayment plans, but you would have to meet the eligibility requirements to participate which may be difficult to know before you even enter a program.

I guess there is no easy answer. I do agree with nogone to think long and hard about what this means for your financial future. I too have seen friends who have shouldered a considerable amount of debt and how that affects their life choices.

Would you consider it worth it to go 28K in debt if you weren't able to secure a fully funded PhD offer? I am sure that you have noticed upon reading numerous postings here on the grad cafe that getting accepted to a PhD program is tricky in the best of circumstances. I have also been surprised too by the number of people accepted to a PhD program without being offered full funding (esp in areas with a high cost of living). So I guess what I am trying to say is there are no 100% guarantees that this master's will translate into a fully funded PhD offer.

Would you be marketable with only a master's if you had to work for a couple years before going to a PhD program? Is there a way to do the master's program part-time?

[thesnout]

If you can pay the debt off within less than 10 years I say go for it. I'm just thinking about the interest on any loans you'll have to take out. The interest would be killer.

I'm in the 'no' camp. That is an insane amount of money to spend. That's just my opinion. What are salaries like for Latin American Studies? Maybe wait another year and apply to schools in cheaper areas of the country where you know you'll get some funding. That's my two cents.

Hmm...Good luck. Sorry.

[natsteel]

I have to join the "No" camp... 80k in loans even for PhD program is insane, unless it's in a STEM field, in which case it's just ludicrous. That amount of debt and monthly payment is just unrealistic for someone in your field, even if you did secure a top PhD offer and then a tenure-track job when you were done. But I am one of those who thinks that no graduate degree is worth paying for in the Humanities. These unfunded MAs are cash cows for schools.

Edited March 12, 2011 by natsteel