Big Decision to make - go for MBA now??

[cats7494]

Ok, Dis friends...I am afraid to ask this but I would like some help. Be gentle lol

I am struggling with a decision of going back to school to get my MBA and accumulating more debt. My employer will only pay up to $1700/year. Which, to be frank, is pennies when it comes to grad school. (looking at approximately $25,000 for the tuition) There is a college which has a MBA program for professionals and there are evening and weekend courses. I would probably only take 2 courses/semester so I have time with my family.

My husband and I have two daughters (16 and 4) and both work full time. We do have a good income; however, we do have credit card debt that we are working on.

I want to go back now before our youngest child gets much older - as she gets older, her activities will increase I won't miss those. Buuuuuut.... I also know that we should work on saving more money and pay down the credit card.

My husband and I are really struggling with this decision. The MBA will be a very helpful for my career; it will definately open more options. I am trying to decide about accumulating debt now when we already have some credit card debt. Or...accumulating it later when the credit card is paid off.
There are pros and cons to now and later....

Any thoughts??? Oh, and I am 36 if that helps with your feedback too.

 

[barkley]

i hate credit card debt, the interest is just so horrendous.

that said-when you are crunching the numbers take into consideration how much delaying the payoff of that debt will cost (i assume that it will take longer because when the student loans come due you will have less to put towards the credit card debt).

take into consideration the other costs associated with school-tuition is just part of it, think about the fees, the books, the supplies-it adds up.

then be realistic about the career options the mba would provide you with-is it that there's "traditionaly" been greater opportunities for a person in your career if they have an mba, and how does that mesh with the realities of what is going on in your field these days? i ask this because i know of several people who got their master's in recent years believing it would make them more marketable, but in their fields there are so many unemployed people with masters degrees and YEARS of experience working in those traditionaly master's holding jobs that their more recent masters degree realy does'nt give them any advantage.

lastly, you mention your kid's ages. your dd is 16, that's only a couple of years away from college for her. i don't know if you plan on helping her with the costs of attending college, but i suspect that if you are already questioning taking on more debt at the expense of delaying the payoff of current debt, and saving money, if you took on this additional expense it could make it financialy difficult when her time to attend rolls around.


just a suggestion-consider talking to a financial aide person at a college, it could be better for you to delay until your dd is in college (if she plans to attend). i seem to remember when we were doing the financial aide paperwork for dh, if our dd had been in attendance at the same time it would have made a HUGE difference in the way the budgeting is done. it would have created allot more eligibility for dd to grants because of having 2 students in the household.

 

[arminnie]

Well I'm going to be very frank here (but gentle). It can make a huge difference WHERE you get your MBA.

An MBA from Harvard or Stanford will pretty much mean instant rewards. The median starting salary is about $130,000. After 5 years it is about $250,000.

And that median is just the median - many choose public service jobs which pay less and many make way more.

There are plenty of good business schools where you can get an education, but the starting salaries are not even going to come close to the "name" schools. Not fair, but it's a fact.