<p>I've been accepted to Johns Hopkins SAIS, but it seems like only rich people could ever dream of going. They offer something like ten thousand total for an expected cost of 90k. With interest and loan fees is it even possible to justify 100k in debt for an MA degree?</p>
<p>I'm wondering if anyone who is not rich actually does go to this school. Does anybody know? I'd be glad to hear about it.</p>
<p>Also, what kind of job selection would that require? If you wanted to go into something high paying like investment banking wouldn’t you get a MBA instead? Is it ironic that the school is for international relations studies, but costs more than those jobs could ever justify?</p>
<p>I’m not bitter. I would just really like to know what kind of a student body they have at these elite schools.</p>
<p>Have you asked this question at the Grad forum? Someone there might have ideas about this. You can reach that forum by clicking on Discussion Home in the upper left of this screen and then scrolling down.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, most M.A. and M.B.A. programs seem to be things that the student has to pay for. Some employers will chip in a bit, but not all of them. Many students pursue their programs part time while working full-time. Or they find jobs on or near campus where they can work part-time to cover some of the expenses. Some programs have teaching and research assistantships that are available for second year (and occasionally to first year) students.</p>
<p>I think that your question is a good one. Over the long term, are the colleges and universities pricing themselves out of the larger market? Is the implicit requirement that students be willing to submit themselves to decades of penury (if they don’t come from a moneyed background) inflicting a counter-productive selective pressure on the would-be student population? Are the products of this kind of Darwinian selection really the best individuals to serve out country and our world in the positions that schools like SAIS ostensibly prepare them for?</p>
<p>But, when you come down to it, this is for the folks at SAIS to decide. We may never know what their answers are.</p>
<p>Wishing you all the best.</p>