don’t give me the it’s never too late bs. Life happens, people have jobs, debts and rent to pay.
Going back to school when you’re employed means debt, earning way less or nothing during your bachelor or master, stress, opportunities you’re not aware of because you’re simply not at your workplace anymore, unpaid overtime during those 2 to 3 years… the money you lose is more than what the bachelor / accreditation costs.
When does it start being a stupid idea? Is it when you’re 30? 40? 50?
Depends what you want. It’s never late to pursue an academic interest. But realistically if you’re going back to school to change careers, probably from 35 up it starts being hard to justify. If you just want to go to school to supplement your current skills, it’s never too late.
At what age is it stupid to start exercising?
Schooling is always a sacrifice of your time, energy, and money; it’s only “stupid” if the reward isn’t worth the risk. Age isn’t a part of that equation.
If you really want to answer this question for yourself, pick a goal and figure out a way to get it. Make a plan. How much money do you need? Can you save up before? Pick up extra shifts, get a second job.
If you decide it’s worth it, do everything you can to make it happen. Otherwise you’re just making excuses for yourself.
Going back to school when you’re employed means debt, earning way less or nothing during your bachelor or master, stress, opportunities you’re not aware of because you’re simply not at your workplace anymore
Don’t quit your day job. Do school in your non-work hours. This is how I did it. I stayed professionally employed and I went back at 30 years old. I did school for about 3 years part-time to get a 2-year Associates degree. Because I went with Community College and did only 1 or 2 classes per term, I never had to take on debt.
I used that Associates degree and got a better paying job that also came with a tuition reimbursement program. It paid 75% of books and tuition up to a certain dollar figure per year (IRS limit). Again, because I was going to school part-time in my off-hours, I simply never exceeded that IRS limit to extra the maximum reimbursement. I finished by Bachelors degree before turning 40. Again, I graduated with zero debt because I kept my professional employment and used the tuition reimbursement benefit. With that Bachelors degree I was able to get an even better job which lead to significant pay raises in the years that passed.
So, I disagree with your original premise that going back to school as a working adult has to means unemployment, debt, and loss of income. I’m not going to say what I did was easy, but what I did a little while ago is also still possible today. I have a close friend that is a year older than me that got his Associates around the same time I did using the same “keep your day job, do school partime” method, but he didn’t start his Bachelors when I did. However, he did so later. He graduates, getting his Bachelors, in two months from now!
When you’re dead.
depends why you are attending school. If it’s to get a piece of paper, likely will not affect you later in life. if it’s just to learn, walk in and audit a class. I have never said no to people auditing my lectures.
Sorry but it’s never a stupid idea. It’s only a situational thing where the question is whether you can make it work. That’s not necessarily age related.
Actually going through the other side of this right now with a kid not doing well at school. At what point is it a better idea to consider a gap year? The problem is any age after schooling is interrupted is much harder to get back. Some people make it work, fantastic, but once you hop off the treadmill you’ll probably stop running
Change in life circumstances is always daunting. Take it from the child that did not do well in school at 18-19. I lost my scholarship and dropped out.
I don’t know if my life would be much better had I stayed. The truth is, I was depressed. Stepping away from school allowed me to work on myself. I was poor, and lost, and scared. But life goes on, and you find friends and courage along the way.
I went back to college when I was 28. It took that long for me to figure it out. But I am more confident, passionate about my studies, and more whole than I ever could’ve been back then. I’m set to graduate this spring.
Hopping off the treadmill is necessary if you’ve hurt your leg. Yes, it might be harder to hop back on, but you sure as hell have an easier time running with a healed leg than when you’re limping trying to keep up.
Excellent for you. I imagine the between years weren’t easy, and I know that turnaround can be a real challenge
The only time going to school isn’t worth it is if you’re already burnt out in your job, genuinely have no time to do it, and make so much money that adding university classes on top of that isn’t worth the effort or time investment. Having said that, if you need the degree to increase your earning potential, even in your 30s or 40s or whatever, then it’s worthwhile despite all the challenges. My mom got her degree in her 30s and massively increased her earning potential and that has paid off over the decades, and I’m currently getting my degree in my 30s to increase my earning potential as well.
There are remote school options where you don’t need to attend classes so those are much easier to fit into your schedule, and much cheaper, places like Western Governors University.
I’m currently getting my degree in my 30s to increase my earning potential as well.
I did what you’re doing now at the same age. I can tell you from the other side that it worked out very well for me. It was worth it for both the personal sense of accomplishment as well as the professional success. Keep at it! You’ve got this!
Depends on your situation and objective. If you’re currently employed and want to increase potential earnings in the same track, then probably around 30/35 from my personal judgement. You should really have enough professional experience and context at that point to make up for a degree, especially if you’re engaging in continuing education, staying up to date on professional articles, watching conference talks, etc.
If you’re looking to get an MBA to move into a management track, it’s probably worth it later in life until like your 40s and 50s earnings wise.
If your current industry is tanking and you need to pivot to a new one, then you don’t really have any other options than to reskill no matter how old you are.
If you just want to learn philosophy or history independent of your work, then there’s not really a point where it’s too late, just how many classes you have time for which is wholly dependent on your life circumstances and doesn’t depend on age.
Your good until your in a pine box or an urn.
Learning should never stop for any reason. However you do have to temper your expectations when learning a trade or skill you can’t use due to personal limitations. This needs to be taken into account but that is something an individual should weigh on their own with the people in their life.
In theory never, in practice, after you have kids. Many people do it after having kids but they have amazing time management skills like my ex.
My grandmother graduated law school at the age of 65 and practiced for the next 15 years. It’s never too late.
Never?
When you’re dead?
I’ve seen 70-80 year olds get degrees
My state has free non-credit tuition at state schools for senior citizens. Part of my retirement plan is going back for more classes in whatever I find interesting.
There’s no single answer. Are you going so you can change careers? Do you have money to pay for it or will you have to take out loans? Do you expect to be able to pay your loans off in a reasonable amount of time to still meet your retirement goals? On top of that like you already said, can you juggle school while maintaining your current lifestyle? if not are you willing to make sacrifices?
Anyone considering it needs to make calculations on their own. It’s not a set age. An older person with savings and no kids for instance would have a lot more flexibility than a younger person with a family.
There’s not one specific age you’re going to find is The Answer to this.
When you are young and still developing and have lots of time to find your path, it’s worth making the long term investment of some general schooling to maximize your own growth and development, and prepare yourself for a broad set of possible futures.
However, as your career progresses, it becomes less valuable to invest in general schooling, but specific training for your specific career can still be valuable.
There’s no cutoff point where all this flips. If you are 5 years into your career and still aren’t certain of what you want to do, an MBA may still be valuable. It will expose you to a range of skills and possible roles and give you some good general foundation for things like leadership roles, or starting your own business.
If you are 20 years into your career and want to rank up to earn more money, an MBA is probably more expensive than it is worth. At that point, your experience is much more valuable than shy degree. Sure, you might look better in a job interview with MBA on your resume, but getting an MBA is expensive and whatever small advantage it gives your resume will probably not pay for the cost of the MBA.
You need to figure out where you are in this journey. Do you still feel that you are exploring and looking for your niche? Schooling might help. Are you on a specific path and hoping to power up? Schooling may not help.
I am 20 years in. I took a class for $300 last year that was highly specific to my role and only required two days. That was worth it. Spending $40k on an MBA will not be worth it for me. I could be 38 or 54 years old, age isn’t really the point.
If you are 20 years into your career and want to rank up to earn more money, an MBA is probably more expensive than it is worth.
Or the opposite. It’s still situational. My uncle had a long career at a large company and worked his way up to a very senior position. But he hit a ceiling where he would no longer be promoted without the appropriate degree. In his situation it was worth going back to college after 35 years in his career. Because it meant a promotion and raise, or not
Sure, it can happen. The anecdote sounds ludicrous to me: gatekeeping someone with that much experience over checking a box like that. But the good news is, if you’re in that situation you will know it, and can then act appropriately. If one is not in such an obvious situation, I think what I said is still good baseline general advice.
Sure, it can happen. The anecdote sounds ludicrous to me: gatekeeping someone with that much experience over checking a box like that.
This is surprisingly common in many industries. It was one of the reasons I went back and got a degree as a working adult. It worked and I was able to land jobs that had that requirement which was a springboard into higher earning work. It was so strange the first time it happened. I got a call from a old coworker I hadn’t seen or heard from in about 12 years. He was a boss then looking to hire for a lucrative position. We talked for a bit to catch up, he said I had the skills he wanted then almost as an afterthought he said “Oh, uh, do you have a Bachelors degree?” and I said, for the first time in an employment situation “yes”. His response was “okay, sounds good. Show up on Monday, you’ve got the job”. That was it. Without being able to say “yes” there I would not have gotten that job. In the years since, received that same question and gave the same answer in a number of jobs after than each with increasing salary and benefits.
Also, no one asks when you got the degree. Everyone always assumes you got it after high school as is done traditionally.
I’ve known even elderly people to go back and complete advanced degrees.
