More than 20 years ago, Professor David Labaree wrote in his book How to Succeed in School Without Really Learning that our education system had turned into a costly race for educational credentials where people are pushed to get higher degrees “to stay a step ahead of the pack.”

In short, educational degrees are positional goods. Now that just about everyone gets a bachelor’s degree, you need a master’s degree to outshine the masses.

Journalist and law student Sarah-Jane Lorenzo examines the costs and benefits of master’s degrees in today’s Martin Center piece.

Although master’s degrees are associated with an average salary increase of nearly $12,000, earnings benefits vary greatly by discipline. Data from Payscale.com suggest that master’s graduates in some fields (such as literature and history) do not increase their earnings at all. For students in those fields, earning a master’s degree may most notably lead to a large amount of debt. The biggest boost from a master’s degree accrues for students in science and engineering fields.

It seems, as Labaree suggested, that we have ratcheted up the degree “requirements” due to our heavy subsidization of higher education. Lorenzo sees that too:

The sharp increase in master’s degrees indicates that undergraduate degrees—once the hallmark of intellectualism and achievement—are now losing their relative value. What was once exceptional has become a basic requirement.

Is there a solution? She doesn’t see any easy one. Master’s programs are cash cows for universities and they aren’t going to let them go. The best thing is for students to be more knowledgeable and circumspect about the relative costs and benefits of signing on for a couple more years and (usually) a lot more debt.

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