Is An Online Master's Degree Worth The Money?

 America's unemployment rate is currently seven point nine percent, more than 15 million Americans have applied for unemployment insurance since the pandemic began in March, and it is still unclear when the economic recession will end.  During the financial crisis of 2008, many Americans went back to school to overcome the recession.  .  

But while the coronavirus pandemic hasn't dramatically changed what it costs to earn a degree, it has dramatically changed what it means to be a student.  If you wanted to get a graduate degree right now, it would probably look like this.  The question is, is it worth it?  The College Board estimates that the master's program costs about $ 19,500 per year at public universities and $ 43,300 per year at private universities.  Some schools, like Georgetown University, charge more than $ 80,000 a year for a master's program.  Is it worth paying for an online master's degree?  One of the first things you learn in Economics 101 is two words: opportunity cost. 

 Opportunity cost is what you have to give up to acquire something.  So in the context of going to college, what you would have gained from your job if you had been working and still going to school is the opportunity cost of college, the opportunities you would have given up to earn a college degree or master's degree.  .  Historically, we see people going to college during recessions because at a time when there are few jobs during the recession, the opportunity cost of going to school is quite low.  In 2007, there were some 17,956,000 colleges in the United States, including 3.5 million and ninety thousand graduate students.  By 2011, that number increased by about 14 percent to include more than 20 million college students in total.  There are two opposing forces.  One is, you know, the economy is that bad?  So this is a good time to go back to school, which usually pushes more people to go to college.  

And on the other hand, the pandemic is really altered in the way we provide education.  Early data suggest that these countervailing forces are having an impact on students.  Undergraduate college enrollment is down 2.5 percent this semester, in part because many low-income students, community college students, and international students stopped attending due to the pandemic.  But enrollment in graduate schools is booming.  Enrollment in master's programs increased by six percent and enrollment in graduate certificates has increased by 24 percent since 2019. To be sure, each student has their own reason for choosing to pursue a master's degree.  

My name is Tarrant.  I am 22 years old and earning a master's degree in conflict resolution from Georgetown University.  My name is Liz Saccoccia, I am 28 years old and I am studying for a master's degree in analysis at Georgia Tech Online.  My name is Taelor Malcolm.  I am 23 years old and I study urban planning at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University.  

In fact, I entered the master's program immediately after my undergraduate program, which was international business and economics.  I did international relations at the University of Delaware.  While applying for a job, I realized that people are not going to know where to put me.  So I thought, I'm going to do two things.  I'm going to go somewhere where there aren't many networking opportunities and I'm going to get a degree that might give me some direction.  I have been working at the World Resources Institute and have really understood that additional skills and data analysis are really important for doing research in the environmental sector.  Research shows that workers with graduate degrees often earn about $ 1,246 / week on average, while college graduates earn about $ 1,248 / week on average.  And workers with master's degrees earn nearly $ 1,500 a week.  And early research shows that workers with advanced degrees, such as masters and doctorates, have been significantly less affected by the economic consequences caused by the pandemic.  

The Pew Research Center found that since the pandemic began, highly educated workers are less likely to lose health insurance or have difficulty paying bills.  And data from the Federal Reserve indicates that the unemployment rate is twice as high for high school graduates as it is for those with a master's degree.  However, the conflict students face is that the experience of obtaining that master's degree has changed dramatically.  But the cost of no more recent estimates suggests that the annual tuition programs for teachers is about $ 8,990 at public universities and $ 30,140 at private universities.  Add in the fees and room and board, and those totals increase to $ 19,500 and $ 43,380 per year respectively.  Few schools have significantly reduced costs for graduate students since the pandemic began.  They have no incentive to enroll, but current students wonder if they are getting the same value for the money spent.  They do not have the same value at all.  Many are waiting, waiting, waiting to be called, waiting to send a notice.  

This document is a sign that you are waiting to be told what to do next, whereas in person it seems that the in-person interaction was very collaborative, not just with your teachers, but with other students.  If I had a problem with my Adobe suite, I could just raise my hand and say hello to someone.  The online experience is not really like that.  You are not that close to people.  You have to schedule things like paying for college.  You are also paying for the use of the facility.  You are paying to be in the classroom when you are not using them.  I feel like you shouldn't pay for it.  It is not the education they expected.  So they really have to weigh the costs and benefits of taking on the debt I've racked up so far: almost $ 100,000.  

However, universities and experts emphasize that offering education online is not necessarily cheaper.  It turns out that online instruction is no less expensive for colleges when, unlike university research departments that have chosen to move learning online over the past few years, it found that schools were unable to cut costs significantly.  He notes that creating software, developing an online curriculum, and expanding technical support are not cheap, especially on a shorter schedule, as schools have faced during the pandemic.  Turns out, it doesn't save you a lot of money, if at all, switching online while keeping the quality of what you're doing constant.  This quality of online classes and technical support and networking opportunities appear to be the key to determining whether or not experts and students believe in an online master's degree worth the high price.  I honestly don't think I would suggest going put your teachers in a recession just to get your teachers together.  It could make them more viable once the recession is over.  But I don't know if I don't know if it's always the best option.  

An important factor is how employers view advanced degrees online.  Will they carry the same weight or will an even cheaper drop completely disrupt the market?  If companies start accepting more Coursera or online degrees or certificates, a little more.  In fact, I'm a bit interested to see if that will take the place of formal education.  Online providers like Coursera, ADEX, and Khan Academy offer courses, certificates, and credentials for little to no cost.  Proponents of the models say that if companies begin to value these non-traditional online learning pathways as they do with traditional graduate degrees, the entire system could change.  Google has created its own certification program in which if you pass it, it takes months, not years, at Amazon, once again, they try to hire tens of thousands of engineers every year.  

They're creating assessments, computer-based assessments that, if you can pass this and write the code, you're in the process, maybe even ahead of many college graduates.  And if these types of employers start saying that a college degree is good, we'll see that.  But here are other ways.  And by the way, they are free.  I think other people will notice and follow suit.