Interactive: What's the Value of A Graduate Degree?
Many experts say that graduate degrees are becoming the new bachelor’s degree as a competitive job market places a greater premium on educational qualifications. I stumbled across this interactive from Quartz, which allows students to see the value added from a graduate degree:
Here are the steps for students to use this interactive:
- Select an undergraduate degree that you might be interested in.
- Jot down the lifetime earnings for someone with an undergraduate degree in that major who does not go to graduate school.
- View the graph to determine…
- The three graduate degrees that would add the most value to someone with that undergraduate major. Calculate the value of that value added (lifetime earnings for graduate degree – lifetime earnings for undergraduate degree)
- The three graduate degrees that would add the least value to someone with that undergraduate major. Calculate the value of that value added (or lost) (lifetime earnings for graduate degree – lifetime earnings for undergraduate degree)
- Does graduate school always pay in the examples that you analyzed?
- Which combinations actually decreased the value of a graduate degree? Why do you think this happens?
- What are the major takeaways from this activity?
About the Author
Tim Ranzetta
Tim's saving habits started at seven when a neighbor with a broken hip gave him a dog walking job. Her recovery, which took almost a year, resulted in Tim getting to know the bank tellers quite well (and accumulating a savings account balance of over $300!). His recent entrepreneurial adventures have included driving a shredding truck, analyzing executive compensation packages for Fortune 500 companies and helping families make better college financing decisions. After volunteering in 2010 to create and teach a personal finance program at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, Tim saw firsthand the impact of an engaging and activity-based curriculum, which inspired him to start a new non-profit, Next Gen Personal Finance.
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