Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Woman Quit $80K Job for Law School

I read this article on CNN about a woman who quit her $80K job to go to law school. After a year, she realized that it wasn't working out and now can't find a job making more than $20K a year.

This is why I think it's really important for high earners to really think and question about whether they should return to school.

A lot of my friends ask me if I'm going to go to business school. At this point, it doesn't make financial sense. I'm in at the level at my company that people leaving business school start at. Plus there's the huge opportunity cost of attending school.

Now if I were with a company that offered to pay for further education, I would take it, as long as it doesn't restrict me too much in my career. The benefits needs to be fair to both the employee and employer.

5 comments:

Forest said...

I read that article yesterday. I couldn't believe it. I think you are smart (and right) that people should think long and hard about just jumping into something like going back to school and giving up such a large salary.

calgirlfinance said...

Thanks for commenting and agreeing with me Forest! :)

FB @ FabulouslyBroke.com said...

I also agree with you. It doesn't make sense right now...

I should forward this to The Idiot who wants to quit his $130k job

Fabulously Broke in the City

"Just a girl trying to find a balance between being a Shopaholic and a Saver."

calgirlfinance said...

Haha, you should forward it to that guy. Recently it's been easy for us consultants to get new jobs, but it's really hard right now with how the economy is going.

Anonymous said...

I've always figured I'd get an MBA, even after my current master's in accounting.

Only recently have I realized that after another few years, it just won't be worth it to me anymore. The opportunity cost will be too high, much of the learning would be redundant, and I can get where I want to go without it, as many people have done before me. It's a big relief, actually, to have finally realized this because now I can move on with my career and never look back.

Then again, if a future employer offers to finance the whole thing, especially a part-time or executive program, I'd seriously consider taking them up on it. It'd be hard to turn down free education.