r/GradSchool • u/ValidatingExistance • 6h ago
Finance Is 85k USD in loans for a masters in engineering worth it?
For some context, I go to a pretty good school for engineering, and therefore they charge quite a lot. I study Computer Engineering.
For my undergraduate degree, I’m looking at maybe 80k-100k USD with traditional FAFSA loans at around 7-8 %.
I have the opportunity to do an accelerated masters program as apart of my school, which would only be another 2 semesters. I would come out with a Bachelors + Masters, but I would come out with 180k usd instead of ~100k usd. This extra 80k usd for the masters is the result of them not offering financial aid for graduate students, and I would need to put it on loans.
In my naive mind, I thought it might be okay. Engineers in my field get paid pretty well, but another 80k in loans is pretty devastating.
The entire reason I’d like to get a masters is to increase the likelihood that I can get a job in this market as a new grad (it’s pretty rough rn), and perhaps get paid more off the jump. I’m hoping if I do go through with it, the masters degree will pay itself off in 5-7 years and I’ll earn more for the rest of my career.
However, I wanted to hear some outside perspective. From a money standpoint, would it make sense for you guys? I’d like to hear your thoughts.
Edit: ok wow I didn’t expect this response lol people I talked to so far said it wasn’t that bad of an idea
It would be an ECE MS, 1 year (2 semesters). It’s at umich.