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28 MARCH 2013
REGIONSBUSINESS.COM
GRADUATE DEGREES
Degree in Happiness? The first World Happiness Report was released last year by Columbia University’s Earth Institute and it found that people with graduate degrees were happier than people at any other educational level. They were almost twice as happy as people with no formal educaiton.
President, Ph.D. Woodrow Wilson is the only president to hold a doctoral degree (from Johns Hopkins). George W. Bush is the only president to earn an MBA (Harvard, no less). There are 10 presidents who did not earn an undergraduate degree.
Hall of Famer, MBA, Ph.D. Shaquille O’Neal left Lousiana State University to play in the NBA. But he not only returned to earn his bachelor’s degree, he went on to get an MBA from the University of Phoenix and a doctoral degree in education from Barry University in Florida.
© DELPAUL
BY KAREN FRATTI
O
ne of the biggest ironies job seekers or those looking to move ahead in their field is finding out at the eleventh hour that they need more ‘experience’ in the field, or worse: that they should have gotten an extra degree to revamp their resume or plea for a pay bump. The ironic part is that obtaining a graduate degree takes time away from a career, and the financial burden can be overwhelming. If you’re lucky, you already work in finance, or education, or human resources, and want to go further in the field. Most employers in these industries are happy to subsidize your master’s or doctorate as long as you’re willing to put in the time and keep your grades up. In fact, many college graduates take jobs specifically for tuition reimbursement and health insurance perks. “I’m an instructional assistant in an autism support classroom [working with] third-tofifth graders. The kids are very low functioning. The only way I can move up in my field is to get my master’s degree,” said Bucks County native Clare Posey. “There is no room for advancement working with autistic children unless you have your masters. The only reason I took the job was because they offered partial tuition reimbursement for grad school.” Otherwise, cost is a major factor. US News and World Report consistently warns students that most schools use a blanket term like “financial assistance” when talking about how they help students pay for their programs. But students should look for more specific things like the
CHARTING your GRADUATE DEGREE availability of loans and the availability, and likelihood, of organizational scholarships. Once you parse the two aspects, you can get a better picture of just how much help you can expect from the organization, depending on the situation. And with graduate programs, unlike undergraduate ones, it’s best to know what’s available before you apply. How you complete a professional degree is another concern. Since most people do it in conjunction with their current career, it means commuting to a university in the area. Most universities also offer full-tine or partial online learning, too. The beauty of online learning is that a Philadelphia native could get a masters at say, Stanford