For many adults returning to school later in life, one of the biggest questions is how to pay for it. A recent listener of Suze Orman‘s "Women & Money" podcast, Will, faced this exact dilemma.
At 35, Will is planning to pursue a master's degree in nursing — a move he hopes will boost his earning potential. The program will cost about $30,000 over three years. Will has enough savings to cover the tuition but wonders if taking out student loans might help him come out ahead financially in the long run.
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The Case for Paying Cash
Will's situation is fairly strong: he works full-time as a nursing director, has about $100,000 in retirement savings, another $130,000 in IRAs and other assets, and owns a home. His only debt, outside of his mortgage, is $30,000 in existing student loans — and he admits he "hates" having that debt.
That's where Orman focused her advice.
"If you have the money now to be able to pay $10,000 a year towards it, I would do that rather than going into debt," she said. Orman noted that Will's emotional response to his existing debt — that he hates it — should be taken seriously. Carrying more debt, especially when it causes stress or frustration, could undermine the benefits of the degree.
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Is the Master's Worth It Financially?
Before making a decision, Orman urged Will to research how much more he could realistically earn with a master's in nursing. "You really need to check and see what would that do for you financially," she said. That means weighing the future salary boost against the cost of the degree — and considering what those funds might grow into if invested instead.
This advice echoes research from the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity, which found that nearly 43% of master's degree programs leave students financially worse off. While some professional degrees — like law, medicine, and dentistry — tend to deliver strong returns on investment, many master's programs don't provide enough of a salary bump to justify the high tuition costs.