Here at Make Money Your Way, we often talk about ways to advance your career, in order to make more money at your day job. Yes, making more does not necessarily mean you have to take the plunge and start working for yourself. One common strategy to make more at your day job is to pursue further education, such as an MBA at London School of Business and Finance (LSBF). The university helps accommodates student’s schedules with evening, weekend and online courses, so you can study without missing work. Such a degree can be beneficial to get a promotion with your current employer or look for a better position elsewhere. It is pretty hard as an adult to go back to school, find your balance again with the regular schedule, the homework… but it can be a great career move.
To make it easier, some employers offer financial help such as scholarships if you commit to staying with the company for a few more years, or sometimes they will arrange your schedule and accept that you work from home or on weekends to catch up.As a matter of fact, for certain professions, and well as certain personality types, working for a big company will be easier and offer you an array of perks you won’t get as a self employed person. Some of you will also appreciate the stability of long term employment, the ease to get a mortgage or a loan, or simple to know for sure you’ll get off at 4pm to pick up your kid from day care.
Opting for a stable pay cheque instead of self-employment does not mean you have to settle for a 3% annual increase, on the contrary. The perfect job maximises your earnings so you can either work less or save more and gain financial stability. The same way companies encourage workers to go back to work, schools are helping potential students by offering part time or accelerated degrees if you can prove that you already have some kind of experience in your field of study, and so on. You can take credits as an independent student for courses you already know about.
It is not an easy endeavour to go back to school and manage a full time job on the side, but think of it as if you were going to the gym or a language class. If you can find time for those, there is time for a degree. Soon it will be over, and you will be back to work as usual, your weekly hours will shrink and you will be making more money. Bear in mind that even if your company is ready to cover part or all of the costs involved with you going back to school, you are kind of stalling your career while you are studying. You can’t stay late at work anymore, and it is unlikely that you’ll get a big raise while part of your time goes to studying.
However, you can expect a big salary bump once you graduate. So you should crunch the numbers before making any decision. How long will it take for you to get your degree? How much can you expect once you graduate? Should you stay with the same company, and ask them to pay for your degree, or pay for it yourself, and try to find a much better paying job on the way out? Is the schedule compatible with your work hours, and with your life? How will you manage your family, your children? And so on. Then add all the costs involved, and you can calculate how long it will take until you make back your investment.
Degrees are generally worth it, if your career advancement prospects are complicated, you may get a better return working extra hours to get that promotion, so make sure you get into studying with all the information on your side.
Amos says
Good post,Pauline.I have always loved to go back to school since I didn’t finish my studies and am only remaining two years to get my degree.Thanks to you I will go back to school and improve my careers since I have all the necessities.
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Joseph Hogue says
Great post! Having more than one degree or pursuing further education does increase your value, gets you higher up the corporate ladder, and people trust you more. But you’re right, before taking the plunge, there are a lot of things to consider, especially if you already have a family, but it’s definitely worth it in the long run.
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Sage @ The Dream Team says
I’ve been thinking more and more about the advantages to going back to school and furthering my education. Luckily I have managed to get my bachelors but my parents ever since have been pushing me to continue on and now looking back, I’m realizing that I really should have because I’ve spent a whole lot of dead (wasted) time, kind of floundering about what it is that I want to get into from here. At the very least, extra business courses could never hurt 🙂