{"id":1171,"date":"2010-12-21T08:44:35","date_gmt":"2010-12-21T13:44:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/?p=1171"},"modified":"2010-12-21T08:44:35","modified_gmt":"2010-12-21T13:44:35","slug":"grad-school-or-graduate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/?p=1171","title":{"rendered":"Grad school or graduate"},"content":{"rendered":"

Carleton student Ramzi Nashif is joining tens of thousands of students across Canada in pursuing a graduate degree because specializing in a profession\u00a0 gives him a great chance of higher income than just\u00a0 starting work having a bachelor\u2019s degree. <\/span><\/p>\n

Nashif began by earning his undergraduate degree at University of Ottawa in hopes of getting a job at the Department of Foreign Affairs. After graduation, he began searching for work but was discouraged when he couldn\u2019t land a job even though he graduated with an 88 per cent average..<\/p>\n

Federal deficits have\u00a0 led the department to\u00a0 impose a three-year hiring freeze. \u201cThe only way to get a job at the department was to take a back-door approach,\u201d says Nashif. \u201cI knew that to stand out and get a job, I needed to get more education.\u201d<\/p>\n

The competition for knowledge-based work positions in Canada is getting fiercer as the number of students enrolled in universities increases each year.<\/p>\n

According to a Statistics Canada National Graduates Survey, just over 1,066,000 students were enrolled in the 2007\/2008 academic year, up 0.6 per cent from the previous academic year. Out of this, 812,700 students were in undergraduate programs.<\/p>\n

To beat out competition, more students are pursuing graduate programs that are increasing in number and specialization across Canada. In 2007, enrollments in masters programs rose 5.4 percent to 101,000 from the previous year. At the doctorate level, enrolment rose 5.4 per cent to 40,400 from the previous year.<\/p>\n

Nashif is now joining some of these students working on his Master\u2019s\u00a0 degree at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs. About 50 per cent of students in this program will pursue government positions\u00a0 and graduate degrees will take them farther up the pay and prestige ladder.<\/p>\n

\u201cStarting is from $50,000 – $60,000 and there\u2019s a good chance of moving up the pay grade,\u201d says Nashif. \u201cThat\u2019s the benefit of a master\u2019s degree. You make more money and get better jobs with benefits. You also get the job over someone else with an undergrad.\u201d<\/p>\n

Better employment opportunities<\/span><\/p>\n

Statistically speaking, he is right. In 2007, two years after they had graduated, a higher number of graduates with a master\u2019s degrees were working full time than those with a bachelor\u2019s degree.<\/p>\n

The Statistics Canada study also found that the largest earnings gap of 33 per cent exists between the bachelor\u2019s and master\u2019s levels, suggesting that investing in further postgraduate work is financially beneficial.\u00a0 In their first positions, bachelor graduates made approximately $45,000, where master\u2019s and doctorate graduates made approximately $65,000.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, the earnings gap between master\u2019s and doctorate students shows that the financial gain is marginal at only 8 per cent. Also, the number of graduates with a doctorate degree that were working full time two years after they had graduated was lower than graduates with a master\u2019s degree.<\/p>\n

Another obstacle for students is the high cost of a graduate degree. In 2007, two years after graduation, loans exceeded $20,000 on average for graduates at the master\u2019s and doctorate levels.<\/p>\n

Pierre Lemasson, owner and director of the Rockhurst Careers Group, advises students to wait until they have found their passion before spending money on a graduate degree. He says working in an industry for two years is a good way to discover where your interests lie.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe earlier you explore an industry the better for you in terms of making a smart choice where to spend huge amounts of money on an education,\u201d says Lemasson. \u201cMany people have a student debt and they can\u2019t use their degrees, and they don\u2019t even like what they studied.\u201d<\/p>\n

Masters grads make more<\/span><\/p>\n

Lemasson also says focusing solely on money could be a mistake for a graduate student.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy the time you finish your studies the demand for your skills may not be there anymore. To define your future based on the external demand would blind you from the most important point of who you are and what you have to offer the world. \u201c<\/p>\n

Although he went straight from an undergrad to a master\u2019s, there is still good news for Nashif. The highest proportion of students who were able to clear their debt two years after graduation were masters students, at 32 per cent.<\/p>\n

In a year and a half, Nashif will finish his master\u2019s degree. He plans to travel before deciding whether or not to pursue a doctorate.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to take some time off after I finish to travel and learn a language before deciding what to do next.\u201d I\u2019m not in a rush to get a government job. I just want to find what I love to do.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Carleton student Ramzi Nashif is joining tens of thousands of students across Canada in pursuing a graduate degree because specializing<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":193,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-personal-finance-2010"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/193"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1171"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1171\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1231,"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1171\/revisions\/1231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}