Should you study part time?
For many older professionals, a full-time program doesn't make sense
When 28-year-old technology consultant Jeff Schlitt decided to go back to school to get his master's degree in computer science three years ago, he thought about going full time--but only briefly. "I was being paid too much money," he says. Not only did the part-time program at DePaul University in Chicago allow him to maintain his income and pocket tuition-reimbursement checks from his employer, but it also let him spread out his costs over time--key advantages in light of the fact that he'd just bought his first house.
Although the stereotypical graduate student is fresh out of college, the majority look a lot like Schlitt: older, established in their careers, paying mortgages, having kids. According to the latest data from the National Center for Education Statistics, the average graduate student is 33 years old. Over one half are married, and about a third have children. For many of these individuals, a full-time graduate program doesn't make sense: Only 36 percent of all master's students and 61 percent of doctoral students go to school full time.
Many prospective graduate students struggle with the decision of whether to go full time. Figuring out just the financial part of the equation can be a challenge, says Sandy Baum, an economics professor at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. While many people decide against full-time study because they need to keep earning their salary, borrowing money to attend full time may be financially savvy, says Baum, if you're expecting to earn considerably more once you finish. Moreover, many loans, grants, and scholarships are available only to full-time students, and only full-time Ph.D. students are eligible for teaching and research assistantships. Benefits, such as access to student housing and health insurance, usually aren't offered to part-timers, either. On the other hand, many employers will pay for all or part of your degree if you continue to work for them while going to school.
For those who want to change careers after graduation, full-time study is often the best option. People with day jobs can't participate in internships with potential employers, and corporate recruiters tend to favor full-timers. By contrast, part-time study frequently works well for people whose goal is advancing within their company or their field because they can maintain their network of professional contacts while polishing their credentials.
Prospective students should look into how welcoming a school is to part-timers. Are Saturday and evening classes offered? Do libraries, labs, and other facilities have extended hours? And is the part-time program of the same quality as its full-time counterpart? One hallmark of quality is that part-timers sit in the same classes as full-timers.
One of the gang. Your expectations for graduate school are also worth considering. As a part-timer, it may be difficult for you to take advantage of speakers and other scholarly events offered during the day. Socially, is it important for you to connect with professors and fellow students? "There's [less] camaraderie" when you go part time, says Jeff Kyle, 28, a part-time M.B.A. student at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.
Psychologists agree that the amount of support you get from your family--and from your romantic partner in particular--is a crucial determinant of success in a part-time program. "You need to have a relationship with your partner where you can trade off responsibility," says Ellen Ostrow, a psychologist in Silver Spring, Md. Support from your boss is no less vital. Melissa Slotnick, 31, who got her M.B.A. from New York University in Manhattan in 2000, had several long conversations with the partner she worked for at an investment bank about whether she should go back to school. Involving him in the decision meant that he was flexible later on when she needed to leave work early for an exam or to catch up on sleep, she says.
A final variable to consider is your mental toughness. By most accounts, it's simply more stressful to balance studies and a job than to drop the job and study full time. Are you willing and able to spend much of your free time hunched over books? To cut down on socializing with friends? To survive on six hours of sleep a night? And to do these things for years on end?
Phil Buckingham, 37, a teacher who is getting a master's degree in educational administration from Johns Hopkins University's Montgomery County, Md., campus, handles the challenge by reminding himself that he doesn't need straight A's to succeed in grad school. "I do want the good grades," he says, but "wherever I get my next job is probably not going to be looking at my GPA. They want to know you have the degree." Former part-timer Paula Fleming, a 39-year-old Ph.D. candidate in psychology at the University of Missouri-Columbia, coped differently. She opted for full-time study after she found herself taking fewer and fewer classes so as to keep up her high level of performance at work. Says Ostrow: "You need to be very clear about what's important to you, because you will be making constant choices."
This story appears in the April 15, 2002 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.