<p>Many big firms (Intel, AT&T, Sun) will start out students who have master's degrees with higher pay and more responsibility. An entry-level position for a master's degree holder might be "engineer", whereas an entry-level position for a bachelor's degree holder might be "junior engineer". How prevalent this is in non-computer industries, I am unsure.</p>
<p>A lot of schools give their students the opportunity to do a 5-year B.S./M.S. coterm. If you have the money (usually they don't offer T.A. positions for 5-year coterms) and don't mind staying at your current school, this is a good deal because a master's degree usually "counts" more than 1 year of experience.</p>