The Promise and Perils of Master’s Degrees

Are master’s degrees destroying the futures of Americans just trying to get ahead? You might think so if you read the host of recent articles about graduate education. Kevin Carey called it the “great master’s-degree swindle.” Anne Helen Petersen wrote a series about “the Master’s trap.” Melissa Korn and Andrea Fuller described students “hobbled for life” by the debt accrued in master’s programs.

And my phone hasn’t stopped ringing (metaphorically, of course, as no one actually calls anyone anymore) with questions from students about the value of degrees and faculty sharing their views on what is right and wrong in these articles. As the administrator charged with the well-being and success of thousands of graduate students at the University of California, Irvine, I read such articles ravenously, certain that I will find some deep insight that will help address our students’ needs.

What I found instead was a rough ride over a handful of programs that really do not represent what I see every day. Critics are rightly concerned about the high price tags of some programs that do not lead directly to lucrative careers likely to return those investments. These articles also take on the challenge of nearly unlimited borrowing from our federal loan systems on top of borrowing students may have done to finance their undergraduate educations. Such concerns are particularly salient for the growing population of first-generation and underrepresented students who may have had to borrow more for undergraduate and have fewer safety nets should things go wrong. How do we meet the promise of graduate education while providing students the levers they need to succeed, without the risks that all those articles cite?

It certainly is true that universities are crunched for funds from decades of systematic defunding and the increased need for students to access a wide variety of services on campus—from fitness facilities to counseling services to food pantries. Combined with a tight labor market, those forces have put students and institutions in the precarious position of balancing student and employer needs with university costs and capabilities.

What the critical articles miss, however, is just how much a good master’s degree can do for a student. I look at the data regularly coming out of my own institution as well as those across the Association of American Universities. What I see are thousands of graduate programs nationwide that are lifting people up. I see hundreds of thousands of graduate alumni who say getting a master’s degree was the best decision they ever made. Most graduate programs are an incredible investment. And despite the examples often highlighted by the critics, many students can, in fact, make financial gains by pursuing a professional degree.

It’s more than money, however. The quest for new knowledge is something to be valued in and of itself. We must resist the urge to talk only about return on investment. Reducing students’ decision making merely to labor economics destroys the beauty and promise of higher education. I’d rather live in a world where a student with a passion for a subject and the time to dedicate to it can study that subject, no matter the job forecast or the economics of such a decision. Of course, sadly, we don’t live in that world. Students need and deserve good careers following their education, and faculty and administrators should be sensitive to both costs and career placement. But that doesn’t mean the deluge of articles covering a handful of predatory graduate programs is representative, either.

Five Strategies

So what can we do to improve prospects for students seeking a master’s degree? A crucial thing these articles miss is the perspective of those of us on the front lines of graduate education. We must ask ourselves every day how to provide students with valuable experiences that return the investments they make in time and money in their education, while balancing the very real needs of the finances of the institution.

As a graduate dean, I am fortunate to have great partners in the Faculty Senate, a provost and chancellor who care about improving access to and quality of graduate education, and a savvy CFO with committed budget office staff. They recognize that we are educators first, that our students are not customers, that our programs are not commodities and that everything we do must be student-centered. This combination is powerful and has enabled the following key strategies for our continued high-quality professional graduate training programs.

• Market research. There’s a substantial need for credentialing and advanced graduate education in many fields, but where do the greatest demands lie? Before launching new graduate programs, we undertake a feasibility study to ensure that there are capable students willing to invest in the specific programs. We also make informed analyses of job and career pathways in associated fields that will give them a realistic return on their investment. Our professional programs aim to return that investment for all students within five to 10 years.
• Adequate financial aid. Institutions must commit to as much aid for graduate programs as they do for undergraduate students. At the University of California, systemwide bodies review and approve professional program fees to ensure that those programs stay within the university’s mission to teach, research and serve the residents of California. Like many institutions of higher education, the university returns an enormous amount of the tuition dollars we receive—we aim for a third—to students in financial aid. This aid is essential for ensuring that students can access graduate education without taking on the kind of massive debt loads everyone worries about.
• Career placement. We often describe higher education as an important step in one’s career progression, “an investment” that “pays off.” This attitude is even stronger at the master’s level. Students expect—and deserve—degree programs that help them realize their career goals. As graduate programs grow, career placement services and professional development offerings must mature, as well. This is no easy task, especially when graduate programs are highly decentralized and the support for different programs varies. Universities must create partnerships across academic units, career resource centers and donor and alumni bases to connect students with the world outside the university. Students should expect excellent careers to result from earning graduate degrees, and we owe it to them to invest in building that pathway toward postgraduate success.
• Measurement and assessment. Programs must be assessed regularly, iterated on and, yes, sometimes closed in response to quality of learning and career outcomes. At our university, all of our professional programs are assessed after three years of graduating their first class. Each university will have its own timing and rhythm. What matters is that we are paying attention to the student needs and making sure we measure our success by theirs.
• Sharing the truth, all of it. There are increasing calls for transparency in higher education. In response, many places have launched information centers like one at the University of California that help shed light on how we run our programs, what students can expect of us and what outcomes we can reasonably expect for our students. We have recently begun an analysis of the career outcomes of all of our graduate alumni, which we will make available to them, as well.

It is easy to sit back and be horrified by high price tags for master’s programs that don’t lead to good jobs. It is a lot harder to understand the nuance that separates the vast majority of high-quality programs from the few that are not advancing students and their careers. It’s even harder still to work to fix underlying problems that create the conditions for predatory programs.

We collectively—administrators, legislators, business leaders, donors—must address the structural issues of concern in master’s programs through intentional investment, as well as highlight and support the programs that are doing well. An advanced degree does not need be a burden. It should free today’s students to pursue multiple opportunities in their fields and help expand such opportunities for those following in their footsteps.