I haven’t brought this up here on the blog yet, but one of my big plans for 2009 is going back to school and getting a Master’s Degree. I’m going to school online for the following (terribly long named) degree: Master of Business Administration with an
Emphasis in Management of Information Systems.

This is a good choice for me because I like business and entrepreneurship and I currently make my living in the IT field as a Web and database developer. I see much greater career potential if I move into management and this degree program is part of my plan to get there.

The good:

  • It wouldn’t be hard to double or triple my current salary with a good management position. I see this as the next step for my career.
  • A salary increase like the above would pay for the degree in about one year or less.
  • It never hurts to have a Master’s Degree on your resume.
  • As long as I am an employee this should help me to earn more money.

The bad:

  • I’ll be adding $25K – $30K of debt.
  • If I don’t get a big salary increase I’ll be paying off this debt for a long time.
  • This is a big time commitment for the next 18 months in my already very busy life.
  • Ultimately, I want to work for myself and I don’t really need another degree to do that.

I’ve never felt fully comfortable that I made the right decision to go back to school. However, I didn’t want to continue procrastinating so I decided it was better to jump in and get it done rather than continue to sit on the sidelines and not make a decision. I’ve only started this week, and so far so good, but we’ll see how my opinion forms as time goes on.

The debt versus education argument is a classic in the personal finance world. What do you think? Did I make a good decision?

By , Thu 8 Jan 2009, 4 Comments, Categories: Debt, Education