{"id":4074,"date":"2018-05-21T08:10:54","date_gmt":"2018-05-21T14:10:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/?p=4074"},"modified":"2018-06-25T15:26:53","modified_gmt":"2018-06-25T21:26:53","slug":"how-to-make-grad-school-work-for-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/how-to-make-grad-school-work-for-you\/","title":{"rendered":"How to make grad school work for you"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Most of the charts that track earnings and wealth have the same categories.<\/p>\n<p>The wording shifts a bit, but it usually boils down to the same distinctions. Once you get beyond those with varying degrees of high school education and the <a href=\"\/college-search.aspx\">associate\u2019s\/bachelor\u2019s<\/a> category, you get to the \u201c<a href=\"\/graduate-schools.aspx\">master\u2019s degree<\/a>\u201d section.<\/p>\n<p>And no, it\u2019s not an optical illusion: The bars that represent income and other economic categories dramatically rise when you get to the graduate degrees.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s no secret, going to graduate school can dramatically change your career potential, both in terms of earnings and the type of jobs grad school opens the door to. And although it comes with a cost, and the potential of taking out loans, it\u2019s an investment that can pay off if you\u2019re looking to find upward mobility in almost any field.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Zeinab Abdalla just had a baby girl last night! She still made it to the graduate ceremony to get her master\u2019s degree. Amazing! <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/tommiegrad?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#tommiegrad<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/UST2018?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#UST2018<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/JMSItaXsDl\">pic.twitter.com\/JMSItaXsDl<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Univ. of St. Thomas (@UofStThomasMN) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/UofStThomasMN\/status\/997990787811020801?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 20, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3>To Go Or Not To Go<\/h3>\n<p>With the cost and risk associated with paying for a graduate degree, the first step is figuring out a way to make the degree work in your favor.<\/p>\n<p>If you punch \u201cShould I go to grad school?\u201d into the Google, you\u2019ll quickly find that the internet is split on the topic. Some say it\u2019s too expensive, others tout the earnings potential of an advanced degree. Then there\u2019s the \u201cmake sure someone else pays for it\u201d crowd.<\/p>\n<p>Vincent Pena heard all of that, made his plans, and found his way into a graduate assistantship at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln after completing his bachelor\u2019s at Northern Arizona University. Pena had worked for the school newspaper, and various internship, and made the decision that he wanted to add to his journalism degree.<\/p>\n<p>Not just to add to his career potential in the media world, but also to add flexibility to his future plans.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI wanted to further enhance my ability as a journalist while also preparing myself academically for pursuing a higher degree in the future,\u201d he said. \u201cIt depends on my career path, but I just felt it would give me a better chance at getting a job or a salary that I felt I could build a life around.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So he started searching for a school, and found UNL, which offered Pena the GA position to help with undergraduate journalism courses.<\/p>\n<p>It checked all of his boxes: It covered the cost of tuition, gave Pena healthcare coverage and added a monthly stipend to cover some of his living expenses. After growing up and attending undergrad in Arizona, Pena packed up and made the move to the midwest.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"moretxt\">READ MORE: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/turning-the-cost-of-an-mba-into-a-career-benefit\/\">A cost-benefit look at getting your MBA<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Financing Life One Loan At A Time<\/h3>\n<p>Pena followed the internet-advice and found someone else to pay for his program, but still needed to search for funding. His expenses at college and during school would be covered. There was still that whole task of getting to Nebraska, though, as well as other financial considerations such as covering fees and being able to afford his living expenses.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLoans played a pretty big part. While I didn&#8217;t really need them, I took out loans to help offset the cost of moving to school, pay the university fees not covered in the tuition waiver, and have a little extra spending money while in school,\u201d Pena said.<\/p>\n<p>That allowed him to keep his focus on his coursework, and Pena made it through the program in two years with a master of arts degree.<\/p>\n<p>And while the world of journalism isn\u2019t necessarily the most profitable industry to flaunt a graduate degree, the numbers are in Pena\u2019s favor. Across all fields, graduates with a master\u2019s degree make about $10,000 a year more than those with bachelor\u2019s degrees. That\u2019s $200 a week extra, and can make a big difference for Pena\u2019s loan payments.<\/p>\n<p>In addition, having a master\u2019s gives Pena the option to pursue a career teaching at the college level, or even to go on and add another degree to his resume.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe master\u2019s gives me a legitimate step up from the rest of the pack, while also allowing me the flexibility to work in another field because of the education and training I received,\u201d he said. \u201cEspecially thinking about a future as a teacher, the master\u2019s will undoubtedly help in a number of ways.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Most of the charts that track earnings and wealth have the same categories. The wording shifts a bit, but it usually boils down to the same distinctions. Once you get beyond those with varying degrees of high school education and the associate\u2019s\/bachelor\u2019s category, you get to the \u201cmaster\u2019s degree\u201d section. And no, it\u2019s not an<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4090,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[426,428,429,437,424],"class_list":{"0":"post-4074","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-scholarships","8":"tag-graduate","9":"tag-graduation","10":"tag-loans","11":"tag-private-loans","12":"tag-scholarships"},"better_featured_image":{"id":4090,"alt_text":"","caption":"","description":"","media_type":"image","media_details":{"width":1400,"height":500,"file":"s3:\/\/pcom-wp-media\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/10124828\/E-grad-school-BLOG.gif","sizes":{},"image_meta":{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0","keywords":[]}},"post":4043,"source_url":"https:\/\/wp-media.petersons.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/10124828\/E-grad-school-BLOG.gif"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How to make grad school work for you - Peterson&#039;s<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Once you get beyond those with varying degrees of high school education and the associate\u2019s\/bachelor\u2019s category, you get to the grad section.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/how-to-make-grad-school-work-for-you\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to make grad school work for you - Peterson&#039;s\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Once you get beyond those with varying degrees of high school education and the associate\u2019s\/bachelor\u2019s category, you get to the grad section.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/how-to-make-grad-school-work-for-you\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Peterson&#039;s\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/petersons\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-05-21T14:10:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-06-25T21:26:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.petersons.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/10124828\/E-grad-school-BLOG.gif\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/gif\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Staff Writer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Petersons\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Petersons\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Staff Writer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How to make grad school work for you - Peterson&#039;s","description":"Once you get beyond those with varying degrees of high school education and the associate\u2019s\/bachelor\u2019s category, you get to the grad section.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/how-to-make-grad-school-work-for-you\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How to make grad school work for you - Peterson&#039;s","og_description":"Once you get beyond those with varying degrees of high school education and the associate\u2019s\/bachelor\u2019s category, you get to the grad section.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/how-to-make-grad-school-work-for-you\/","og_site_name":"Peterson&#039;s","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/petersons","article_published_time":"2018-05-21T14:10:54+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-06-25T21:26:53+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1400,"height":500,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.petersons.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/10124828\/E-grad-school-BLOG.gif","type":"image\/gif"}],"author":"Staff Writer","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Petersons","twitter_site":"@Petersons","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Staff Writer","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/how-to-make-grad-school-work-for-you\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/how-to-make-grad-school-work-for-you\/"},"author":{"name":"Staff Writer","@id":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/de16a60c2d4cd725a73b140f92aea013"},"headline":"How to make grad school work for you","datePublished":"2018-05-21T14:10:54+00:00","dateModified":"2018-06-25T21:26:53+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/how-to-make-grad-school-work-for-you\/"},"wordCount":738,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/how-to-make-grad-school-work-for-you\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/wp-media.petersons.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/10124828\/E-grad-school-BLOG.gif","keywords":["graduate","graduation","loans","private loans","scholarships"],"articleSection":["Funding"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/how-to-make-grad-school-work-for-you\/","url":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/how-to-make-grad-school-work-for-you\/","name":"How to make grad school work for you - Peterson&#039;s","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/how-to-make-grad-school-work-for-you\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/how-to-make-grad-school-work-for-you\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/wp-media.petersons.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/10124828\/E-grad-school-BLOG.gif","datePublished":"2018-05-21T14:10:54+00:00","dateModified":"2018-06-25T21:26:53+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/de16a60c2d4cd725a73b140f92aea013"},"description":"Once you get beyond those with varying degrees of high school education and the associate\u2019s\/bachelor\u2019s category, you get to the grad section.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/how-to-make-grad-school-work-for-you\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/how-to-make-grad-school-work-for-you\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/how-to-make-grad-school-work-for-you\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/wp-media.petersons.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/10124828\/E-grad-school-BLOG.gif","contentUrl":"https:\/\/wp-media.petersons.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/10124828\/E-grad-school-BLOG.gif","width":1400,"height":500},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/how-to-make-grad-school-work-for-you\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Blog","item":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Funding","item":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/category\/scholarships\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"How to make grad school work for you"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/","name":"Peterson&#039;s","description":"Peterson&#039;s helps students discover their best fit educational program","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/de16a60c2d4cd725a73b140f92aea013","name":"Staff Writer","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fd9c661dc63a23028d5b76bd26c9c6beecfe3494df61794bcf6e8778b00a6a7e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fd9c661dc63a23028d5b76bd26c9c6beecfe3494df61794bcf6e8778b00a6a7e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fd9c661dc63a23028d5b76bd26c9c6beecfe3494df61794bcf6e8778b00a6a7e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Staff Writer"},"url":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/author\/brian\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4074"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4074\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}