Online MBA

Applying to College Admission Stories
1

Long time reader, first time poster here.

Needing some great advice before the next step in my life, hoping someone here can offer some insight.

I currently have a BA in math, and an MA in teaching, and work in edtech industry as a consultant. Salary 75k. Never held management position though have been in roles of increasing responsibility, and salary over last 5 years. Need to make more money, would like to be a strong candidate for management, im 38 years old with family.

Current loans are about 80k from my 2 degrees.

I’ve applied to the best online MBA programs I could find and reasonably complete without attending physically. John’s Hopkins online and William and Mary online. I think I’ll likely be accepted to one or both. But my worry is the additional loans amd maybe getting the degree won’t pay off in end. Ive read reports from JHU that part time graduates on average increase salary by 30% out of school, then additional 40% or so within 5 years of graduating. This doesn’t sound so bad.

Problem with my industry is, there aren’t a lot of opportunities to advance to management. The number of companies is limited and higher positions don’t open often. Since its education, all other options don’t pay well enough. Seeing the need to broaden my skill set to be able to work in other industries. That’s what I thought an mba would do for me.

I guess I just need advice on everything I’ve written. Another opt-in I’ve been considering is applying to Georgia Tech online CS degree. Only 7k and I have interest in the field. Thinking about my families future, I feel like I need to do something but not quite sure what that sommething is. I would take on the debt if I thought it would pay off in the end, but I’m so nervous to make the decision on those Mbas. The CS degree I’m not sure of for kind of the same reason, but more in terms of time spent. I feel like a JHU degree would be a lot stronger and therfore if im going to spend my time on something it should be for the greatest potential benefit.

Sorry if I’m all over the place but just needing someone to have a look at this and give me some objective advice.

Anyone? Thanks in advance.

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I was in a similar situation several years ago and I got my masters degree. That totaled 50k for both degrees. It bumped my salary from 45k to 65k in just 4 years, and I will probably be close to 6 figures in about 5 years. I have about 25 years left in my career. I went from banking to computer programming, though, so I don’t know how well that compares. Your situation seems a bit risky. At 38, you’d be taking another 30k in student loan debt, which would raise your debt to 110k. On the other hand, it could get your foot in the door for a management salary, since you’re already established in your career. You can do what I did. Go over the numbers…when in doubt, ask your wife :slight_smile:

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Thanks for the response. The mba would be another 50 to 70k from those colleges I mentioned actually. If you think it’s risky at adding 30k, you’ll probably say I’m crazy for 50-70k added on. The CS degree it safer at only 7k added on, but not sure if it’ll increase my salary because then I’d be switching industries completely. My wife just wants me to make more lol. Neither one of us has a great idea.