A Master’s is not automatically worth it. It does not guarantee financial return. Around 43% of Master’s degrees may bring no financial benefit or even reduce lifetime earnings. The outcome depends heavily on your choices, not just the degree itself.
Master’s degrees: they’re expensive, time consuming and hard work. So why study for one?
For starters, it might get you a better job. In the UK postgraduates have a 90% employment rate, with a 79% likelihood of working in highly-skilled roles and they earn around £5,000 more annually than first-degree graduates.
Then there’s the tuition fees, which vary widely depending on the country and institution status.
Consider the living costs while studying
You’ll also need to consider living costs and any lost income - some reports say the salary you would have earned while studying is often the largest cost to consider.
You are balancing:
- Tuition fees
- Living costs
- Missed salary
Most Master’s degrees can be studied part-time though - and this can significantly shorten your ‘break-even’ period by removing or reducing lost wages.
There may also be cheaper, remote learning options and check whether your course can be studied as an accelerated programme to shorten the lost-income period.
Average Master’s fees around the world
Where you study can completely change your return, with costs ranging from free in parts of Europe to over $200,000 in the US, making location one of the biggest ROI drivers.
Country/region | Minimum tuition fees | Maximum tuition fees |
US | $100,000 | $200,000 |
Australia | AUD $22,000 ($14,200) | AUD $50,000 ($32,280) |
Vietnam (international students) | VND 50,000,000 ($2,100) | VND 128,000,000 ($5,400) |
Europe (EU students) | Free (in the Czech Republic, free Masters programmes are available for students who study in the Czech language). | €7,500 |
Europe (international students) | €120 | €34,500 |
UK (international students) | Approx £17,109 | Approx £17,109 |
UK | Approx £8,740 | Approx £8,740 |
As a guide, postgraduate living costs in Europe are around €492 per month (Switzerland is at the top end, Turkey at the lowest). Living costs in Asia are often more affordable for foreign students and in the US, it varies from $2,500 to $3,500 per month depending on location.
Financial assistance
Funding can turn a high-cost decision into a manageable or low-risk investment. Remember to do some research for grants and scholarships from societies, philanthropists and employer bursaries. Charities and trusts may offer funding to students from poorer backgrounds or high academic achievers and ask the destination university if it offers scholarships.
“Does it have a return on investment for you personally?
Postgraduate loans to help with tuition fees and living costs may also be available but you’ll need to factor in debt interest (UK Government postgraduate loans are around £13,000).
The break-even period
With all of these outgoings, it’s wise to work out how long it will take for the Master’s to pay for itself. The break-even period varies widely depending on subject, tuition costs, and salary increases. To give you an idea:
- A high return on investment scenario, where an MBA is studied in a STEM subject, sponsored by employers is 2–4 years.
- An average return on investment scenario, where tuition fees are reasonable and salary increases significantly is 3–5.
- And a low return on investment scenario, where Master’s fees are expensive, is at least 6 years or even never.
Breaking even after a Masters: a guide
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Data Scientist Patrick Fitzgibbon writes on Medium:
“Take a hard look at if a Master’s will provide you what you need (usable knowledge, an ideal-looking resumé), if your company or industry values Master’s degrees, if you’ll be better off financially with one and if you can balance the time and effort to get one without failing at other life responsibilities. If pursuing a Master’s is the right choice then start your research. If it’s not, self learning has done worlds for me”.
“It completely transformed my career. It’s the best thing I did work wise.”
According to the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity in the US, some 43% of two-year degrees and Master’s degrees provide no financial return or leave them worse off, after costs and what they might have earned anyway.
It also found that some Humanities Master’s actually reduce your lifetime earnings and the courses that do have an impact are conversion courses that lead to technical careers.
Career switcher
One such student was Vanessa Wright, a UK-based Business Systems Analyst and Agile Project Manager. Having done a Humanities degree, Wright took up a tech-based Master’s via a conversion scheme aimed at encouraging women into STEM subjects, which included tuition fees and living expenses.
“It was the same as I would have been earning in a job. It completely transformed my career. I can now work flexibly and have a good salary. It’s the best thing I did work wise.”
In some cases an internship is better, and may mean you enter the job market sooner, a little less broke. If you can get your employer to pay for some of it, better still, but the picture varies from country to country.
It turns out a Master’s is one of the most effective ways to change direction.
It has a stronger impact when:
- Moving into tech or high-demand fields
- Taking conversion degrees
Career accelerators
In some careers, a Master’s is not optional, it is essential. It is required in fields like Biotech, Health, Education, Law, and without it you can face limited progression and access fewer senior roles
Tamar Shalet, who recently studied a Neurobiology Master’s at Tel Aviv University explains:
“When you do a research-based Master’s here, you find a laboratory looking for Master’s students. The University and laboratory pay you a living scholarship to cover living expenses”.
For her, gaining skills for the best job prospects was key. “It doesn’t matter what you do the Master’s in, but the tools you learn. To get a good job, the more scientific methods you know and the more tools, the better.”
In her field, a Master’s was a vital stepping stone to attain her chosen career path as it is in fields regulated professions such as Law, Health, Education and Medicine. In fact, a vital question to ask yourself when weighing up whether a Master’s is worth it is, is it essential for the role you want or just highly beneficial?
“If you can advance your career without doing a Master’s, great. But if you want to work in biotech, you can’t do much with only an undergraduate degree. You won’t go beyond a certain level. With a Master’s, you can probably run a team. It’s about what jobs you can apply for.”
Personal return on investment
Not all returns are financial, and that matters in the long term. Dawn Hersey, Ph.D. CEO of Ferndon Consulting in the US, says that if the study complements your work, this is often a positive return on investment.
“You gain new insights into processes, networks, and cost-saving opportunities. This means that you become an increased asset to your employer with opportunities for raises and bonuses,” she says.
“Does it have a return on investment for you personally?” says Hersey, who studied a Master’s in what she considered “a hobby”, paid for by her employer. “Financially, it would not be a positive return on investment. For my spirit? Totally worth it.
It can cost you time away from family, hobbies and employment though. For those who need to balance other commitments, part-time study can work, although the Master’s will take 3–4 years instead of 1.5-2 years. Hersey warns: “If you need reskilling, it can often be most beneficial to go full time. Part time is very hard if you’re reskilling while in a challenging job”.
“The Master’s did wonders for my time management! It gave me confidence to progress my career.”
Groundbreaking ideas
There’s another kind of return on investment: what if your ideas change the world? One Humanities lecturer told Studyportals: “Your research may be of such value that people in that industry want to work with you. You might change industry or government policy.”
For those who want to change careers completely, a Master’s may be ideal. Sarah Herbert, an International Student Advisor at University of Brighton, chose a Master’s 10 years after her first degree. “It was a great decision – I felt stuck and it gave me the intellectual stimulation I needed. The Master’s did wonders for my time management! It gave me confidence to progress my career,” she says.
The study abroad advantage
Still unsure? Studying abroad may swing it. Notably, in the UK, take up of Master’s degrees is driven largely by international students.
Universities abroad may offer benefits that studying at home cannot, like lower living costs, exciting cultural experiences and language skills.
Edwin van Rest, CEO, Studyportals says: “It prepares you for an international career by placing you in a completely new environment where you build adaptability, resilience, and strong social skills. For many, it also opens access to better education systems, stronger job markets, or a higher standard of living”.
If you choose the international study route, remember to factor in visa and immigration rules and costs.
Master’s alternatives
Master’s are not the sole route to a rewarding career. There are alternatives, including remote learning and qualifications targeted to specific industries, like microcredentials - highly specific courses that take weeks or months - or bootcamps, intensive courses that focus on sector-related skills.
Arguably, these courses may be a threat to Master’s degrees, alongside challenges such as demographic shifts and the growth of AI, whose impact is not yet clear cut. On the one hand, traditional roles are evolving because of it, with 11% of graduates changing career plans due to AI, according to graduate careers company Prospects.
On the other hand, AI means new roles are emerging that didn’t previously exist, and many graduates are benefitting.
The leading edge?
And while in some countries, Master’s enrolments are dropping - a huge challenge for institutions - this means in time, the market could become less saturated for postgraduate job hunters.
Against a backdrop of a highly competitive, highly qualified labour landscape, a Master’s could give you the edge but it’s vital to investigate the costs, the course, the university and the staff to find the right match before diving in.
Whether a Master’s pays off depends heavily on your study field, and debt-to-earnings ratio, as well as whether you’re upskilling or reskilling. But it could be the means to pursue your love for a subject and turn you into that person who says: ‘If you love your job, you'll never work a day in your life’ - and really mean it.
