As school starts again, many newly minted seniors are looking forward to figuring out their post-graduation plans.
With a less-than-stellar job market, students might be hesitant to leave the relative comfort of the education system, and they therefore make plans for graduate school.
However, committing to more loans and more time outside the job market can do more harm than good.
For some students, graduate programs are the next logical step to becoming qualified for their dream career. However, many recent grads see graduate programs as a way to buy more time before embarking on their careers.
If you are one of the lucky few to be sure about your path in life at this age, then, by all means, follow your dreams. Unfortunately, those people are rare. Many of us have vague inclinations of the general direction we want our lives to take, and we have little to no understanding of how complex the job market has really become. Your dream job might be a position that barely exists now, let alone one aided by a graduate program.
In 2015, the amount of student debt is higher than it’s ever been — $1.19 trillion, according to Forbes.com. Graduate school accounts for 40 percent of that debt even though only 14 percent of students attend graduate school.
For graduate programs like those in medicine and law, the extra education is necessary for employment, even though most programs are not the shoo-in for employment they once were.
For law students in particular, the employment rate continues to drop as the class sizes continue to grow.
In other areas of study like MBA programs, the career opportunities are lucrative enough to justify the debt required. However for most programs, like liberal arts programs, students graduate with no path to a stable and profitable career.
So, if you think graduate school is the next step for you simply because you can’t think of another, think again.
It’s expensive and not always necessary. Though it might delay the coming of the real world, it will not make the transition easier if it lands you thousands of dollars in debt. If it is necessary for you because of your chosen career path, tread carefully.
Graduate school can be a great career step and an opportunity to continue education in a field that inspires you, but it can also be a financial noose if students choose it for the wrong reasons. Instead of postponing the real world to determine your place in it, embrace the unpredictability of life after higher education.
Take chances and try out different opportunities within the work force with the added bonus of making a little money instead of losing a lot.
If you are graduating and still don’t know what you want from a career, try the trial and error of the real world instead of continuing to dream from behind the walls of an institution. Once you are sure of your path in life, if graduate school is the next logical step, by all means, go into debt.
jordrile@indiana.edu
