Is it worth paying double for an expensive master's degree?
Paying significantly higher tuition for a graduate degree creates major financial and professional hesitation when more affordable programs meet the exact same credit and credential requirements. People worry whether investing the money and effort will actually pay off, especially when facing long wait times just to get hired into desired positions after graduation.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Attending a cheaper state school or local program just to get the 150 hours needed to sit for the CPA exam
- 2Choosing programs based strictly on cost rather than prestige
- 3Hesitating on enrolling in grad school programs
- 4Researching hiring outlooks and state requirements
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“🙋♀️ Mid-career teacher trying to decide on grad school/an out-of-classroom movement.”source ↗
“…I still have concerns about investing the money & effort into a master’s (my state requires it for the endorsement) if it’s going to take years to get hired into a GT position.”source ↗