No Stupid Questions

Going back to school when you’re employed means debt, earning way less or nothing during your bachelor or master, stress, opportunities you’re not aware of because you’re simply not at your workplace anymore

Don't quit your day job. Do school in your non-work hours. This is how I did it. I stayed professionally employed and I went back at 30 years old. I did school for about 3 years part-time to get a 2-year Associates degree. Because I went with Community College and did only 1 or 2 classes per term, I never had to take on debt.

I used that Associates degree and got a better paying job that also came with a tuition reimbursement program. It paid 75% of books and tuition up to a certain dollar figure per year (IRS limit). Again, because I was going to school part-time in my off-hours, I simply never exceeded that IRS limit to extra the maximum reimbursement. I finished by Bachelors degree before turning 40. Again, I graduated with zero debt because I kept my professional employment and used the tuition reimbursement benefit. With that Bachelors degree I was able to get an even better job which lead to significant pay raises in the years that passed.

So, I disagree with your original premise that going back to school as a working adult has to means unemployment, debt, and loss of income. I'm not going to say what I did was easy, but what I did a little while ago is also still possible today. I have a close friend that is a year older than me that got his Associates around the same time I did using the same "keep your day job, do school partime" method, but he didn't start his Bachelors when I did. However, he did so later. He graduates, getting his Bachelors, in two months from now!

Sorry but it’s never a stupid idea. It’s only a situational thing where the question is whether you can make it work. That’s not necessarily age related.

Actually going through the other side of this right now with a kid not doing well at school. At what point is it a better idea to consider a gap year? The problem is any age after schooling is interrupted is much harder to get back. Some people make it work, fantastic, but once you hop off the treadmill you’ll probably stop running

Depends on your situation and objective. If you're currently employed and want to increase potential earnings in the same track, then probably around 30/35 from my personal judgement. You should really have enough professional experience and context at that point to make up for a degree, especially if you're engaging in continuing education, staying up to date on professional articles, watching conference talks, etc.

If you're looking to get an MBA to move into a management track, it's probably worth it later in life until like your 40s and 50s earnings wise.

If your current industry is tanking and you need to pivot to a new one, then you don't really have any other options than to reskill no matter how old you are.

If you just want to learn philosophy or history independent of your work, then there's not really a point where it's too late, just how many classes you have time for which is wholly dependent on your life circumstances and doesn't depend on age.

When you're dead.

Never?

When you're dead?

I've seen 70-80 year olds get degrees

When you're dead.

depends why you are attending school. If it's to get a piece of paper, likely will not affect you later in life. if it's just to learn, walk in and audit a class. I have never said no to people auditing my lectures.

My Mother got her Bachelor’s degree at 55. She graduated with some rare honours.

NEVER stop learning!

It's got nothing to do with age. As you pointed out there are financial reasons where you might not be able to. But that's realy the only hurdle. And there are plenty of ways to clear it.

It's never too late. If you're 110 you might not make it to graduation though.

The only time going to school isn't worth it is if you're already burnt out in your job, genuinely have no time to do it, and make so much money that adding university classes on top of that isn't worth the effort or time investment. Having said that, if you need the degree to increase your earning potential, even in your 30s or 40s or whatever, then it's worthwhile despite all the challenges. My mom got her degree in her 30s and massively increased her earning potential and that has paid off over the decades, and I'm currently getting my degree in my 30s to increase my earning potential as well.

There are remote school options where you don't need to attend classes so those are much easier to fit into your schedule, and much cheaper, places like Western Governors University.

It is never too late to go back is not bullshit.

people have jobs, debts and rent to pay.

I had all of the above and a family to support and I went back to school and got my masters degree.

I went to school with quite a few mature students. They were all great classmates.

Lots of seniors go because they want edification. Never a stupid idea.

Now if you are asking financially, that depends on the time and cost of the program and the anticipated market for that kind of work. Do the math. Cost of school (tuition, books, materials and living expenses x number of years of the program) - opportunity cost of not working your current gig during those years, + the estimated differential of what you reasonably think you could make for the remainder of your new career before retirement.

Every program, job market and tuition support is different. Do the math with your own local info.

Never. Not what you want to hear,but hear me out. Because if it safes your sanity it is worth it.

• I got my apprenticeship as a paramedic first and then went back to school to get my full A-Levels. Specialized school we have here,thankfully for these cases. The oldest one of my classmates was 52.

• I studied economics with someone who was 55 and basically had already done the job we all wanted when we graduate for 25 years. He did so so he finally would get a more comprehensive background and maybe get up the ladder once more. (Which according to linked in he did)

• I currently do another master (in a distant education setting,though) simply out of interest in the field and to broaden my CV. And you know what? I am 25 years in my field and still learned a fuckton of things, got a better network, love the research field AND got so much better at my job AND found a lot of opportunities.

• An former paramedic trainee of mine was almost 50 when he started paramedic training. He was a C level executive before and at one point had enough - he changed careers so he would not get even more depressed and is now very happy with it. And I had multiple people do that in my bubble.

Now,from my current perspective: Was it stressful? Fuck yeah. I literally cried sometimes. Was it a tough time financially? Fuck yeah. I am self employed/have a small company and I had month were making ends meet was really though due to the added expenses and the lost revenue. But it still was worth it. Because: For what it's worth we all gonna need to work till 70+x anyway to afford retirement. And that's a long time.

It depends on what you want to do when you go back to school.

If you're switching careers, I'd put the early 40's as a limit unless the career has age limitations.

If you're getting a degree to enhance your existing career, I'd put the early 50's as a limit unless you intend to not retire immediately.

If you just want the degree, there isn't really a limit.

Your good until your in a pine box or an urn.

Learning should never stop for any reason. However you do have to temper your expectations when learning a trade or skill you can't use due to personal limitations. This needs to be taken into account but that is something an individual should weigh on their own with the people in their life.

I went back to school in my 40s and changed careers.

My grandmother graduated law school at the age of 65 and practiced for the next 15 years. It's never too late.

I have a friend that is taking courses at 50… but we’re not in the US

It depends upon the job you are pursuing. I went back to school at 35 to pursue a trade in HVAC. I don't recommend doing that much later. I ran into a lot of age discrimination when attempting to find a job.

It depends on if you’re going back to school for career reasons or personal enrichment. For the latter it really is never too late. For your career, though, too late will depend on when you’re hoping to retire, when you’ll complete the extra schooling, how much the school will cost, and how much more money you’ll expect to make with your new degree.

Without any info, assuming you want to retire around 65, I would think it would be normal to want to use your new degree for at least ten years, so whatever schooling you’d want to do you would want to be finishing by the time you’re 55. But those other variables come into play. If you’re borrowing $100,000 to pay for med school, your cutoff date will probably be earlier because it will take a longer time to pay off the student loans. On the flip side, if you’re paying $5-10,000 for a 6-month programming boot camp that will boost your income by $10-20,000/year then you might even consider doing that at age 60, especially if you’re already bringing a computer science background where your experience and new skills will keep you in high demand.

There’s not really a one-size-fits-all answer to this question.

My wife got her masters degree last year, at age 58.

In theory never, in practice, after you have kids. Many people do it after having kids but they have amazing time management skills like my ex.

There's no single answer. Are you going so you can change careers? Do you have money to pay for it or will you have to take out loans? Do you expect to be able to pay your loans off in a reasonable amount of time to still meet your retirement goals? On top of that like you already said, can you juggle school while maintaining your current lifestyle? if not are you willing to make sacrifices?

Anyone considering it needs to make calculations on their own. It's not a set age. An older person with savings and no kids for instance would have a lot more flexibility than a younger person with a family.

Self-improvement is never a stupid idea.
Ceasing to work towqrd self-improvement is what's stupid.

There’s not one specific age you’re going to find is The Answer to this.

When you are young and still developing and have lots of time to find your path, it’s worth making the long term investment of some general schooling to maximize your own growth and development, and prepare yourself for a broad set of possible futures.

However, as your career progresses, it becomes less valuable to invest in general schooling, but specific training for your specific career can still be valuable.

There’s no cutoff point where all this flips. If you are 5 years into your career and still aren’t certain of what you want to do, an MBA may still be valuable. It will expose you to a range of skills and possible roles and give you some good general foundation for things like leadership roles, or starting your own business.

If you are 20 years into your career and want to rank up to earn more money, an MBA is probably more expensive than it is worth. At that point, your experience is much more valuable than shy degree. Sure, you might look better in a job interview with MBA on your resume, but getting an MBA is expensive and whatever small advantage it gives your resume will probably not pay for the cost of the MBA.

You need to figure out where you are in this journey. Do you still feel that you are exploring and looking for your niche? Schooling might help. Are you on a specific path and hoping to power up? Schooling may not help.

I am 20 years in. I took a class for $300 last year that was highly specific to my role and only required two days. That was worth it. Spending $40k on an MBA will not be worth it for me. I could be 38 or 54 years old, age isn’t really the point.

I've known even elderly people to go back and complete advanced degrees.

You should never stop learning and school is a very good way to learn. If you don’t learn new stuff all the time your brain will literally stagnate and rot. It will atrophy.

Very few people are cut out for true self directed learning so, unless you’re one of the gifted few, structured and group learning is the best way to do it.

If you’re highly motivated anything is better than nothing. Find free courses, look stuff up, engage the academic world as best you can 🤷‍♀️

I graduated as a kid with 2 retirees in my psych classes who told me getting their degree was one of the most important, rewarding things they had ever done.

Also,, nowadays you can travel abroad in dozens of countries, take English-language courses and get accredited degrees in every field for very affordable tuition fees, as in 90% cheaper than the US.

While you're attending those schools, your cost of living will be dramatically lowered as well.

If anyone wants details, talk to me here or in Travel.

I’m an elder millennial in school I’m doing great and I love it. I can finally afford to go and I like learning new things from the younger generation. I’m proud of them they’re super cool

Study part time, alongside employment.

Good/bad doesn’t have to do with age. Are you going to Harvard or a local college with subsidized night school classes? Are you wanting to learn a specific skill, get a degree, upskill for a career path, retrain for new work?

I had a grandfather who ended up deployed in the army when he was planning to go off to college. When he got back, he took the jobs he could and continually took night school classes.

My father got his masters degree when he was 46, which resulted in 20 years of increased pay at work.

Me? I’m constantly learning, using free online courses. I don’t care about the degrees or certifications; anyone who knows me knows what I’m capable of.

I knew a woman who got her PhD in Law at the age of 97.

My workplace pays for appropriate certifications for its employees.

There’s all sorts of ways to go to school.

Just finished my bachelor's at 39. I know people have finished a lot later than that too.

My spouse is finishing a degree at 36 and kicking themselves they didn’t do it sooner. I’ll have some extra time in about 2 1/2 years and I want to try and fit in a class or two. It just depends on your situation, but if you’re needing a degree to get a better job, you’ll want to get to that earning potential ASAP. The cost could potentially just be a drop in the bucket if you still plan on working for another 30+ years. It can also be rewarding just to expand your knowledge and grow in unexpected ways. My advice is to just do it and get it over with already. Especially if it will lead to better opportunities and earnings. Or don’t, it’s your life.