Is paying full-price worth a MA degree?

[froggerz9]

Good to know about the 30K benchmark, ZeChocMoose....Do they actually tell people this or just expect you to read the fine print?

Cherylsafina - salaries range from 40-70k, depending on sector of employment. So, as much as I'd love to get on the non-profit track, it's probably not financially realistic knowing that i'd have the burden of repaying student loans. That leaves mostly private and/or government organizations or the PhD track, which several people have noted above as being very competitive for admission and not always funded.

I'm strongly leaning toward deferring for a year, saving a LARGE percent of my income, and then - - assuming the outlook is positive - - hopefully only take out half (realistically, probably more than half, but significantly less than i would otherwise) of the amount of $$$$ I would have to if i were to enroll this fall.

[jedi76]

Warpspeed - I just finished my MA with about $27k in loans (including living expenses as I wasn't working for the 2 years...tuition was like $10k of it as I had assistance but was out of state). My degree is not from a super awesome school (name-wise. I'd argue that the department has excellent profs) and not super awesome at placing us MAs in amazing PhD situations. BUT I'm happy I did it. It gave me a leg up for my phd apps just having a masters and some more experience, it was an awesome time for me and I have an MA to help me get a job in the real world if I can't get into PhD programs this year.

In short, I'd say totally worth it for a great program that will send you down the path you want to go down. More than $30k though and I think you enter sketchy territory. That's just my two cents though.

[Polly_Sigh]

Yes that is definitely true for federal grad loans, but not necessarily true for private grad loans. if you are borrowing federal loans and need $28K already, it would probably be worth it to borrow a few $K more to hit the $30K mark just to have the option to extend repayment if necessary. you can always pay more than the minimum in order to pay off the loan faster and avoid interest. but if you have good credit and are financially responsible, you don't have to go the federal loan route. private grad loans will likely come with an interest rate lower than the 6.8% and with more flexible repayment options (again this is assuming good credit and strong personal financial management). overall i'd say around $30K is not all that risky for an MA if the individual has no other loan obligations. any more than that, I would think twice and consider other options.

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?

[ZeChocMoose]

but if you have good credit and are financially responsible, you don't have to go the federal loan route. private grad loans will likely come with an interest rate lower than the 6.8% and with more flexible repayment options (again this is assuming good credit and strong personal financial management).

I have to disagree with you again, Polly_Sigh. Please don't bypass federal student loans to take out private grad school loans, warpspeed (or really anyone!). You can't discharge private grad school loans like you can with federal student loans through programs like Public Service Loan Forgiveness or through education awards from programs like AmeriCorps and Teach for America. Also, a lot of them collect interest while you are in school unlike the subsidized Stafford loans. Also the interest rates can be variable and can increase over the life of your loan whereas the Stafford loans have a fixed interest rate at 6.8%. (You can argue that is a bit high, but they can't increase it on you if you miss a payment unlike private grad school loans.) Sometimes there are hidden fees in private grad school loans that will charge you extra for paying them off early. And those private grad school loans may or may not be eligible for in-school deferment if you decide to do a PhD after your master's degree.

I have witnessed and read about people who get into some serious financial trouble with relying on private loans to fund their education. Before you take out any money for school (federal or private*), please really understand the terms and conditions of the money that you are borrowing because you are going to be stuck with paying it back.

* I don't advise taking out private loans because the terms and conditions are favorable to them not you. Please be very careful if you decide this route.

[mckenna81]

I paid for my MA by getting a job at the school. Most schools will waive your tuition if you have a staff job that entails at least 20 hours a week of work. Plus, the pay is usually way better than a TA salary. I got my master's in five semesters instead of four, made $40k with excellent health insurance as an administrative assistant, and the total cost to me out of pocket for fees, books, supplies, etc was about $900 total for the entire degree. I would strongly suggest you look into that route. It's tough, but it's so worth it.

[Polly_Sigh]

what you are saying are definitely the conventional rules of thumb. i'm not saying that your advice is untrue (federal is probably the safest route for many people), but these are not hard and fast rules that apply to everyone all of the time. each adult needs to weigh the pros and cons of any financial decision and then make the best decision for him/her. if you are financially savvy and able to understand the system, then you can make an informed decision. i would advise against latching onto simple rules such as "never take out private loans" because in some cases those may be the better optoin. it reminds of the now (hopefully) passe idea that "it's always better own than rent." that's simply not true for everyone, but many people latch on to those rules of thumb without applying any critical thinking. (think back to the financial crisis of a few years ago.... for many people owning was not the smart financial move despite conventional wisdom). work out your own financial models. make a few alternate scenario models to account for potential risk factors and then make a decision that will allow you to mitigate potential risk if necessary. and as for the public service loan forgiveness program, yes those are great programs that are available to federal loan holders, but they apply to a small population of people. and going into a program like AmeriCorps is great and very personally rewarding, but if you are focused on financial security, going into a program like that has many other financial trade-offs even when taking loan forgiveness into account. These trade-offs need to be calculated and compared to other career/loan-repayment scenarios to really see if there is a benefit. and with all of these scenarios there are intangibles that are only applicable to the individual making the decision, which again make the application of universal rules of thumb dubious. and of course in-school deferment would be a clear question to ask, and something to have in writing, before finalizing any agreement with a lender.

I have to disagree with you again, Polly_Sigh. Please don't bypass federal student loans to take out private grad school loans, warpspeed (or really anyone!). You can't discharge private grad school loans like you can with federal student loans through programs like Public Service Loan Forgiveness or through education awards from programs like AmeriCorps and Teach for America. Also, a lot of them collect interest while you are in school unlike the subsidized Stafford loans. Also the interest rates can be variable and can increase over the life of your loan whereas the Stafford loans have a fixed interest rate at 6.8%. (You can argue that is a bit high, but they can't increase it on you if you miss a payment unlike private grad school loans.) Sometimes there are hidden fees in private grad school loans that will charge you extra for paying them off early. And those private grad school loans may or may not be eligible for in-school deferment if you decide to do a PhD after your master's degree.

I have witnessed and read about people who get into some serious financial trouble with relying on private loans to fund their education. Before you take out any money for school (federal or private*), please really understand the terms and conditions of the money that you are borrowing because you are going to be stuck with paying it back.

* I don't advise taking out private loans because the terms and conditions are favorable to them not you. Please be very careful if you decide this route.

[michpc]

I paid for my MA by getting a job at the school. Most schools will waive your tuition if you have a staff job that entails at least 20 hours a week of work. Plus, the pay is usually way better than a TA salary. I got my master's in five semesters instead of four, made $40k with excellent health insurance as an administrative assistant, and the total cost to me out of pocket for fees, books, supplies, etc was about $900 total for the entire degree. I would strongly suggest you look into that route. It's tough, but it's so worth it.

That's a great suggestion. I'm hoping to do something similar, as I have admin experience (unfortunately).

[Golden Monkey]

I paid for my MA by getting a job at the school. Most schools will waive your tuition if you have a staff job that entails at least 20 hours a week of work. Plus, the pay is usually way better than a TA salary. I got my master's in five semesters instead of four, made $40k with excellent health insurance as an administrative assistant, and the total cost to me out of pocket for fees, books, supplies, etc was about $900 total for the entire degree. I would strongly suggest you look into that route. It's tough, but it's so worth it.

I did the same thing. While pay is terrible at university jobs, the benefits are great, such as free/discounted tuition.

[cheshirey]

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...

I'm in the same boat but mines only a year. I'm going for it I think though, only because I don't think it'll be worth my time to apply again next year (for me anyway). But those suggestions are really good about working on campus

[chaospaladin]

It is not worth it. Find another alternative.