Hey! Sorry, I didn't get back to you right away. I'll break it down this way in terms of worth: Time, momentum, money:

Time

Totally worth my time. Medill was only one year, which is pretty quick. (Berkeley is two). I knew nothing about online journalism, social media, video, etc., so everything I currently know was scooped up during that year. Much of it I taught myself, which seems ridiculous considering how much I spent, but who's to say I'd have ever opened my mind to it otherwise. (Answer: I wouldn't have). I had a whole lot of fun with a tight group of friends in small collaborative classes. I picked up a lot and had a great time.

Momentum

I had very little professional momentum before shipping off to grad school. I was writing print articles for a small-town paper, which was cool, but not great for future relevancy in the industry. You're doing better than I was: Writing (really nice) stories for legit publications.

Maybe you have enough under your belt to find work in a pretty rough (and low-paying) field, but maybe you don't. I floundered around for two years after college not knowing what to do with my communications degree until I finally scored a newspaper job and fell in love with it. And that's when the job market was fine. I could only imagine the difficulty now.

To answer the question: I got a ton of momentum out of grad school.

Money

This is where it gets complicated. I've occasionally wondered if I'd be happier without my degree (and subsequently my debt). That would also mean trading away my current job and my skill set. I wouldn't have the large financial burden I now do, but I'd also be pretty aimless, professionally.

But then again: I could afford to be more aimless, because I wouldn't have large monthly payments nipping at my heels for the next few decades.

I've asked myself this: Would I trade all of that away to live a nice quiet life on a farm, tending to a couple of animals on a small plot and growing my own food, not making much money, but not needing it either?

It's a semi-stupid question, but that little vision does sound nice and calming to me on occasion. I can't help but feel bothered by the fact that I literally cannot afford to be out of work at any time because of my monthly payments and rapidly snowballing interest. It's a bit enslaving.

Sooo, time and momentum: Very much worth it. I loved school and I'm happy with the work I'm doing now. Money... I can't answer for you, because I waver in my own feelings on it.

My inclination is to say do it. Go to grad school (unless you have a very solid and satisfying Plan B). If the choice is either Grad School or No Idea, you should probably go to school.

Plus, maybe we could hook each other up with cool jobs ten years from now!