Worth the Investment?
It seems like every now and again, I post a rant about feeling overwhelmed. The past few weeks were especially tough - two graduate classes, coaching track & field, teaching, grading papers, various committee work, and my wife was in a car accident. The latter really hit me right between the eyes. I don't always manage stress well; it gets the best of me, and life gets put on pause:
I haven't run consistently in months. My kayak and mountain bike have scarcely seen the light of day. Outside of planned social events, I haven't spent much, if any time hanging out with friends. There is no free time to liesurely spend time outside or write / record new songs on guitar. I don't know how Caroline puts up with my over-the-top stress levels. It is definetly starting to wear, and I need a change of pace.
The fact that I am in a mad rush to complete my masters program at Rutgers U. only compounds the problem. I question if all this work will pay in the long scheme of things. By the time I pay off my graduate debt, it'll take far more than half my teaching career for my advanced degree to return the investment; that is if I stay in the classroom. The cold-hard reality of time, cash, and sanity puts the plan of an Ed. D. farther and farther away.
This leads me to the grand question of whether my master's degree will be worth the investment. The US Gov. conducted research on how higher education will pay off. If you are interested in reading the entire report, you can find that information here. As for me, I read a summary of this report here. In a nutshell, the report correlated levels of educational attainment with lifetime earnings.
So the skip from bachelor's to master's degree is marginal; this is especially true with the payscale in my district. If this was only about the bottom line, I doubt that I would've pursued education in the first place (although we have kick-ass pension and health benefits). This time next year I hope to walk down that graduation line knowing that I managed to finish what I started - possibly the toughest challenge to date. To me, that is worth it all.
I haven't run consistently in months. My kayak and mountain bike have scarcely seen the light of day. Outside of planned social events, I haven't spent much, if any time hanging out with friends. There is no free time to liesurely spend time outside or write / record new songs on guitar. I don't know how Caroline puts up with my over-the-top stress levels. It is definetly starting to wear, and I need a change of pace.
The fact that I am in a mad rush to complete my masters program at Rutgers U. only compounds the problem. I question if all this work will pay in the long scheme of things. By the time I pay off my graduate debt, it'll take far more than half my teaching career for my advanced degree to return the investment; that is if I stay in the classroom. The cold-hard reality of time, cash, and sanity puts the plan of an Ed. D. farther and farther away.
This leads me to the grand question of whether my master's degree will be worth the investment. The US Gov. conducted research on how higher education will pay off. If you are interested in reading the entire report, you can find that information here. As for me, I read a summary of this report here. In a nutshell, the report correlated levels of educational attainment with lifetime earnings.
high school: $1.2 million
bachelor's degree: $2.1 million
master's degree: $2.5 million
doctoral degree: $3.4 million
professional degree: $4.4 million
So the skip from bachelor's to master's degree is marginal; this is especially true with the payscale in my district. If this was only about the bottom line, I doubt that I would've pursued education in the first place (although we have kick-ass pension and health benefits). This time next year I hope to walk down that graduation line knowing that I managed to finish what I started - possibly the toughest challenge to date. To me, that is worth it all.
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