Hi r/personal finance,
As the title states, I am a 24 year old female who is working as an environmental scientist. I am two years out of school and made the awful mistake of going to a private liberal arts school. My experience and overall learning benefited but now my pockets don't. I am currently working a state job making 45k a year. I have the ability to go up to 88k but that won't be for at least 15 years. If I apply for higher up promotions I can make between 95-100k. My loans are mainly private, so the public forgiveness does not really influence me... maybe a couple thousand dollars.
Recently I was offered an interview for a position as a research assistant at a university in New England. I would be getting my masters of science for free working under a professor. I have wanted to go back to school but definitely could not pay out of pocket for it. My work stopped paying for further education years ago. Now in my field, a masters doesn't necessarily mean higher pay at all. But I am constantly seeing job postings that require a masters. Would deferring my loans to go to graduate school for free not pay off in the end? The entire tuition is comped (55k) plus health benefits and a stipend of 25k a year. Financially, should I pursue furthering my education or stay at my job that I do not enjoy that much but suck it up because of my loans.
Submitted June 28, 2017 at 09:49AM by lovethelocust http://ift.tt/2sR6KWI
