Back story: I am in my 29, single, no children. I graduated from undergrad in the early 2010s with a political science degree with minors in journalism and media production. The goal at the time was to go into journalism/media - particularly focused on politics. After graduation, this yielded some freelance work but not a full-time job in the field.
I currently work two jobs -
Job One - 40 hours a week at an office job in the non-profit sector with good benefits but lower pay ($29,000 in a low cost of living Midwestern metro area). Most of our staff are miserable there (by-the-way) and it’s a stretch to say it’s related at all to what I went to school.
Job Two - 20 hours a week at a TV station. I love it there, but the people in FT roles there seem to be planted there. Pay is from $12-15K annually. However, I am working with some fellow part-timers to independently produce a series on local political engagement for our station with a goal of distributing it nationally - a good intersection of my interests in media and politics.
In addition to the two jobs, I also volunteer with a young professionals group where I run one of the larger blogs in our city of ~250,000 people. I manage anywhere from 10-15 people who contribute to our site.
Dilemma: I have been accepted into a journalism graduate program with a focus on media management and analytics. The program is online from in-state public university located roughly 60 miles from where I live. I already have six credits I can transfer in from some graduate business courses I completed in my early 20s, which would leave roughly 30 credits to complete.
I’d love to leave “job one” and knock out the masters program in 1.5 years. If I did leave “job one,” it would free up some time to possibly intern with my general manager at “job two.” If I had any additional time between class assignments, I’d like to do more freelance writing work.
The finances of doing such a move are not the best. “Job two” does have a small tuition reimbursement program - heavy emphasis on “small.” I have some money saved up from working 60 hours a week from the past several years but not enough to not dip into loans.
Question: Would taking this risk be worth it to work in media management? I love working in media and can’t imagine doing anything else. If I started this plan and it didn’t appear to be working, I could always pivot and move down to the university and become a graduate assistant and eventually work on a Ph.D.
Let me know your thoughts. Thanks!