don’t give me the it’s never too late bs. Life happens, people have jobs, debts and rent to pay.
Going back to school when you’re employed means debt, earning way less or nothing during your bachelor or master, stress, opportunities you’re not aware of because you’re simply not at your workplace anymore, unpaid overtime during those 2 to 3 years… the money you lose is more than what the bachelor / accreditation costs.
When does it start being a stupid idea? Is it when you’re 30? 40? 50?
My Mother got her Bachelor’s degree at 55. She graduated with some rare honours.
NEVER stop learning!
Similar thing with my mom, only she retired soon after graduating.
Did she do it for the joy of learning? Or personal growth and satisfaction? Or was it for career enhancement?
All of those reasons. She was a housewife, and felt she missed out. At that point kids were on their own paths.
It’s got nothing to do with age. As you pointed out there are financial reasons where you might not be able to. But that’s realy the only hurdle. And there are plenty of ways to clear it.
It’s never too late. If you’re 110 you might not make it to graduation though.
Yeah, maybe stick to certificates after 100.
When you’re dead.
I went to school with quite a few mature students. They were all great classmates.
Lots of seniors go because they want edification. Never a stupid idea.
Now if you are asking financially, that depends on the time and cost of the program and the anticipated market for that kind of work. Do the math. Cost of school (tuition, books, materials and living expenses x number of years of the program) - opportunity cost of not working your current gig during those years, + the estimated differential of what you reasonably think you could make for the remainder of your new career before retirement.
Every program, job market and tuition support is different. Do the math with your own local info.
depends why you are attending school. If it’s to get a piece of paper, likely will not affect you later in life. if it’s just to learn, walk in and audit a class. I have never said no to people auditing my lectures.
It depends on if you’re going back to school for career reasons or personal enrichment. For the latter it really is never too late. For your career, though, too late will depend on when you’re hoping to retire, when you’ll complete the extra schooling, how much the school will cost, and how much more money you’ll expect to make with your new degree.
Without any info, assuming you want to retire around 65, I would think it would be normal to want to use your new degree for at least ten years, so whatever schooling you’d want to do you would want to be finishing by the time you’re 55. But those other variables come into play. If you’re borrowing $100,000 to pay for med school, your cutoff date will probably be earlier because it will take a longer time to pay off the student loans. On the flip side, if you’re paying $5-10,000 for a 6-month programming boot camp that will boost your income by $10-20,000/year then you might even consider doing that at age 60, especially if you’re already bringing a computer science background where your experience and new skills will keep you in high demand.
There’s not really a one-size-fits-all answer to this question.
It is never too late to go back is not bullshit.
people have jobs, debts and rent to pay.
I had all of the above and a family to support and I went back to school and got my masters degree.
OP is saying at some point it financially doesn’t pencil out. Like, if I make x now, spend y to get a degree, and then make z, about when does it stop making sense to spend y? Obviously this depends on a lot of things but the answer is definitely not never. I suspect they are trying to get a general sense of around when that would be because they don’t know the exact values of x y and z.
All of that is what you are going back to school for.
My wife got her masters degree last year, at age 58.
You should never stop learning and school is a very good way to learn. If you don’t learn new stuff all the time your brain will literally stagnate and rot. It will atrophy.
Very few people are cut out for true self directed learning so, unless you’re one of the gifted few, structured and group learning is the best way to do it.
If you’re highly motivated anything is better than nothing. Find free courses, look stuff up, engage the academic world as best you can 🤷♀️
It depends upon the job you are pursuing. I went back to school at 35 to pursue a trade in HVAC. I don’t recommend doing that much later. I ran into a lot of age discrimination when attempting to find a job.
The only time going to school isn’t worth it is if you’re already burnt out in your job, genuinely have no time to do it, and make so much money that adding university classes on top of that isn’t worth the effort or time investment. Having said that, if you need the degree to increase your earning potential, even in your 30s or 40s or whatever, then it’s worthwhile despite all the challenges. My mom got her degree in her 30s and massively increased her earning potential and that has paid off over the decades, and I’m currently getting my degree in my 30s to increase my earning potential as well.
There are remote school options where you don’t need to attend classes so those are much easier to fit into your schedule, and much cheaper, places like Western Governors University.
I’m currently getting my degree in my 30s to increase my earning potential as well.
I did what you’re doing now at the same age. I can tell you from the other side that it worked out very well for me. It was worth it for both the personal sense of accomplishment as well as the professional success. Keep at it! You’ve got this!
Study part time, alongside employment.
Was gonna say this. Some jobs will help pay for classes (max 1 at a time) and some will even let you take the classes “on company time.” With Distance Education this is easier than ever. I took classes while working for a couple years, then was gonna take a semester off work and finish a Master’s Degree. (but ended up doing a PhD instead.)
Super common in accounting in australia.
Degrees by themselves aren’t very useful, you need the experience as well.
Just tick off 1 unit each semester.
My spouse is finishing a degree at 36 and kicking themselves they didn’t do it sooner. I’ll have some extra time in about 2 1/2 years and I want to try and fit in a class or two. It just depends on your situation, but if you’re needing a degree to get a better job, you’ll want to get to that earning potential ASAP. The cost could potentially just be a drop in the bucket if you still plan on working for another 30+ years. It can also be rewarding just to expand your knowledge and grow in unexpected ways. My advice is to just do it and get it over with already. Especially if it will lead to better opportunities and earnings. Or don’t, it’s your life.
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