The Times: Postgrad degrees are not the path to a bigger salary

Taking a postgraduate qualification may earn extra letters after your name, but it won’t bring you more money in the long run, research suggests.

Those paying to continue their studies in some subjects can end up with lower salaries as a result, suggesting that extra years of study should be done for love of learning, not lucre.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies found a large variation in earnings returns among postgraduate degrees. For those taking a master’s in business and law, extra earnings could be about 15 per cent by the age of 35, but those “doubling down” by taking arts postgraduate courses could end up even worse off.

For women the average salary for those with a master’s was £35,400 compared with £32,500 for those with only an undergraduate degree. Male master’s graduates earned £55,800 on average, £5,000 more than those without a postgraduate degree.

The IFS report, funded by the Department for Education, said: “Most of these earnings differences can be accounted for by master’s graduates coming from better-off backgrounds, and having higher prior attainment, than those who do not pursue postgraduate qualifications. Compared with otherwise-similar individuals who don’t go beyond undergraduate level, by age 35 women with a master’s degree earn 2 per cent more and men 2 per cent less.”

The rest of the article can be found here: Postgrad degrees are not the path to a bigger salary

The cost of higher learning

Returns for a woman taking a master’s compared with a bachelor’s degree, per subject
Law 24.5%
Business 17.6%
Economics 16.5%
Creative arts -18.8%
English -14.7%
Philosophy -13.8%

Returns for a man taking a master’s compared with a bachelor’s degree, per subject
Law 21.4%
Business 15.3%
Economics 10.7%
English -29.9%
Languages -24.3%
Creative arts -22.8%
Source: Institute for Fiscal Studies