<p>I was accepted into a Masters program at a top school but now the doubt is starting to sink in. The program will cost me 60k in Student loans and coupled with my undergrad the grand total of higher education for me will be around 100k! </p>
<p>First degree was in Economics, and this masters program is in Environmental Studies. </p>
<p>I am planning on concentrating in the most technical concentration they have; Environmental Science and Policy. I plan on taking all of the hard science courses from environmental chemistry, wetlands, environmental analysis, hydrology and couple it with environmental law, land use planning, and GIS spatial analysis courses. </p>
<p>I am hoping to use it as a stepping stone into a City Planning Masters program or go into Environmental/Land use planning as a career. </p>
<p>The only problem is that I am nervous that the degree will not pay off as I much as I paid into it. </p>
<p>The other option is to complete ditch the Enviro Studies program and take the second optional degree within the department contingent on passing a couple of math pre-reqs. The degree is in Applied Geoscience and I would learn practical applied courses in hydrology, engineering and geophysics. This one I know will pay off and will help me pay back my student loans. </p>
<p>I am less interested in the second degree but will do it if needed. </p>
<p>I really do not want to make it seem like I am just in it for the high salary but reality has set in on these student loans and I cannot stop at a bachelors for fear of little pay and the amount I already owe on it, so my only hope is a strong practical and highly marketable masters degree. </p>
<p>Does anyone know anything about these two fields? </p>
<p>Does anyone know enough about federal students loans to calm my ass down, lol? </p>
<p>So you already owe $40K for undergrad and you want to add $60K for a master’s?! That’s crazy. You’ll never have a cent for anything else except paying back loans. </p>
<p>And after getting the master’s, you want to do another master’s in city planning? That’s even crazier.</p>
<p>If you can’t get a job that pays enough with your undergrad econ degree, there might be some rationale to consider the second option in applied geo, but how much will that cost?. If you are able to enter that program, I assume you already have a background in basic sciences—e.g., physics, etc.?</p>
<p>Off the top of my head, some other thoughts…</p>
<p>This may be crazy too, or it may not interest you, but I was just thinking about ways you could make your undergrad econ degree pay off more…</p>
<p>I have no idea where you were considering going for your master’s (school, dept), but the cheapest way might be to go your state university. If you’re interested in environmental studies, have you considered a master’s in a dept. of agricultural & applied economics? That would be at your state land-grant university. Most ag ec depts. offer specialties in environmental/natural resource economics (also policy studies in many cases). They also offer some relevant business courses and courses in international topics, commodities, etc. You could probably complete a non-thesis master’s in a year. I was thinking that it might be worth while to consider developing some expertise in a niche area that you could use in a field like finance, consulting, something like economics of rare minerals. </p>
<p>By your screen name, I also was wondering if you’re in Texas. If so, another area to consider if you want to build on your undergrad degree is energy economics/energy management. I think there are programs at UTexas, Texas A&M, and Texas Tech.</p>
<p>Texas Tech, TAMU, Sam Houston, and Stephen F Austin in Texas have strong environmental/natural resource programs with connections. All are state schools on the less expensive side.</p>