High Cost But Useless Master's Degrees and Who's Offering Them: Students overpay for useless degrees and end up financially hobbled for life

Mish Talk ^ | 07/09/2021 | Mike Shedlock

[PrairieLady2]

The problem with these loans is compound interest. The lloans could be more easily paid down but as it stands, people are indebted forever.

[SeekAndFind]

RE: It would be much cheaper to get a degree overseas. Many European colleges will let you finish in 3 years too.

I have a friend whose son studied for his medical degree at At All Saints University College of Medicine, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines ( Grenada ). All Saints University College of Medicine is recognized by the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG), Foundation for Advancement of International Medical Education and Research (FAIMER), and the World Health Organization (WHO).

The tuition was markedly cheaper than ANY Medical School in the USA.

He is now a doctor at the State University of New York Stony Brook Hospital.

[RetiredScientist]

The key is to find a career that will pay the bills and that you enjoy the work. I completed a Ph.D. in Polymer Science and Engineering at UMASS Amherst in the early 1980s. I chose that path having worked the summer prior to grad school at Tennessee Eastman Co. (part of Eastman Kodak at the time). While I was at TEC, my boss - a Ph.D. chemist, showed me statistics from the American Chemical Society that a large fraction of chemists worked with polymers at some time in their career. My graduate advisor encouraged all of us in the group to find interesting problems that companies and government organizations would support. The idea was to find and solve an important problem and repeat. That was how I worked for 30+ years at Kodak Research Labs. I enjoyed solving problems that clients would bring to me.

[SeekAndFind]

RE: An MBA from a high profile business college can pay off in different ways.

Yep, See my Post #27 above

[OldGoatCPO]

My daughter also has an International Business Degree and is looking at getting her Masters in Marketing and Analytics. She has no debt and estimates she can complete graduate degree for $51K of which she plans to pay half to minimize any debt. For her, the International Business degree was a BA with a semester overseas at a business school and a language requirement. She got lured into to working for a sports franchise. Not great money but a good learning experience. She learned the difference between a business degree and a Sports Administration or Sports Management degree. (Worthless degrees). She was used specifically to work with corporate clients since she did not sound like a immature frat boy when discussing sponsorship’s and purchasing boxes. COVID hit and they released all the sport degree holders and kept only her. Her VP tried to keep a golf buddy, but the CEO intervened and said he wanted her because she did not talk or work like a millennial. He trusted her to work at home unsupervised. Money and advancement in sports sucks so she is getting her Masters and moving on.

[myerson]

Biden was behind amending bankruptcy laws to exclude student loan debt (and to severely restrict dischargeability of credit card debt). If the student loans are dischargeable in bankruptcy, then lenders will be very hesitant to loan money to students pursuing degrees that will not allow them to repay. Think how many “woke” degree programs would be eliminated by that!

[RayChuang88]

Biden was behind amending bankruptcy laws to exclude student loan debt (and to severely restrict dischargeability of credit card debt). If the student loans are dischargeable in bankruptcy, then lenders will be very hesitant to loan money to students pursuing degrees that will not allow them to repay. Think how many “woke” degree programs would be eliminated by that!

What's that saying about a broken clock is right at least twice a day? Biden's suggestion may actually turn universities back into educating people with useful skills.

[Brian Griffin]

See Figure 4 Percentage of Median Earnings Needed for Student Loan Repayment by Major in Sixth Year, by Major:

https://www.hamiltonproject.org/ee-ce-image/made/assets/legacy/images/uploads/thp_image_uploads/charts/debt_calc_figure4_585_705_80.jpg

and the paper it is in:
https://www.hamiltonproject.org/papers/major_decisions_graduates_earnings_growth_debt_repayment

Bear in mind that the decision is more complicated than those graphs might suggest. Your economic future also significantly depends on your personality and where you live.

[KarlInOhio]

So my master’s degree where the hardest class involved ripping CDs isn’t useful? :-(

[mountainfolk]

No sympathy from me. Years spent living on credit. How many of these perpetual students are simply avoiding working for a living? If they are not smart enough to accept the fact that their loans will have to be paid, like credit cards they cannot afford, then they do not belong in higher learning institutions. Complicit in all of this is the willingness and complicity of lending institutions and govt to facilitate this exploitation of the education system in America. Taxpayers pick up the unpaid tab for these loans and have every right to protest this unasked for burden.

[odawg]

Was listening to Dave Ramsey once. A married couple had jointly racked up $400,000 in college loans.

[Brian Griffin]

The “Underemployment Rate” [~11% to ~73%] is the often sad reality of the college graduate labor market:

https://www.newyorkfed.org/research/college-labor-market/college-labor-market_compare-majors.html

[sheana]

I majored in BusAd/concentration in accounting. Then got my master’s in BusAd. Not because I loved accounting, but because I knew it would open doors and impress potential hiring managers. And it did. I wound up in marketing but they were all impressed with my major. And I paid cash for my bachelor’s and got my masters for free through the company I worked for.

[odawg]

“Was listening to Dave Ramsey once. A married couple had jointly racked up $400,000 in college loans.”

Forgot to add -— degrees in English.

[Brian Griffin]

The New York Fed Table can be sorted by say clicking on Underemployment Rate.

[laweeks]

‘My Masters Degree in Medieval Plumbing has yet to pay off.’

really...? what was your salary for the past fecal year...?

I was always in arears . . .

[Grampa Dave]

Exactly:

It does really depends on WHAT you major in.

[OldGoatCPO]

There are various Graduate degrees that will pay off. I earned an MPA vice an MBA. Masters in Public Administration. I first thought this sounds like a bull ship degree. It is not, it simple addresses differences between private and public sector, budgeting, management and structure. We had to study all the same things business analytics, demographics analytics, Econ, etc…. In the end, during my short stint with the DOD after I retired, I received higher pay and two promotions strictly because of my graduate degree. I had contemporaries who were better at the job then me but lacked a graduate degree. I hated the job, but the pay was good. Until the pay no longer offset how much the job sucked.

Students would be smart to at least investigate online degrees. Find an online school regionally accredited. Not Nationally accredited. Then go to website for the accreditation agency and see what other colleges and universities they accredit. You may be surprised. If online is through a major University you will still pay out the back side.

[SgtHooper]

Stupid is, as stupid does!

[SeekAndFind]