In a just a few decades, Dr. Gregg Keiffer, assistant professor of management in HBU’s Archie W. Dunham College of Business, has witnessed increments of changing thought adding up to big ramifications for education, and to its application within the business environment. “The idea of education has changed,” he said. “It used to be that a high school education was the baseline degree in the professional workforce. It’s changed now – an undergraduate degree is the baseline education.”
Keiffer worked for more than 20 years in data processing for a global company before earning his doctorate and entering academia. “Most of what we saw when I was first getting into corporate America was that they preferred for employees to have an undergraduate degree, but it was not necessarily a requisite,” he said. “When I was leaving corporate America, it was required for all new employees to have an undergraduate degree. So, the next thought is, ‘How can they differentiate the pool of candidates?’”
To the chagrin of many freshly minted, bachelor’s degree-carrying graduates, many starting-level jobs request additional qualifications to make the cut. “Organizations are fairly confused about what degrees mean today,” Keiffer explained. “Even entry-level job screeners often want several years of experience or the equivalent years of education, in addition to a bachelor’s degree.”
Hence, candidates are finding ways to set themselves apart – one of those ways is obtaining a graduate degree. “The pyramid gets narrower at the top,” Keiffer said.
Linda Abraham, founder and CEO of Accepted, a Los Angeles-based company specializing in helping college applicants optimize their application materials and enrollment process, has seen an uptick of students looking to get into graduate programs. “Our graduate business has been growing,” she said. “You see this trend that more and more degrees are required.”
In some careers in which an associate’s degree has traditionally sufficed, like nursing, now a bachelor’s degree is widely preferred. In other fields in which a bachelor’s degree was common – like social work – now a master’s is becoming standard. In areas like research, a doctorate, rather than a master’s, has become the expected degree.
Graduate School Growth
Perhaps the value of a graduate degree is still being defined. The American Enterprise Institute, a nonpartisan public policy research institute, asserts as part of a January 2018 study, “Although the idea that the master’s degree is the new bachelor’s degree has been around for several years, most discussions around the value of postsecondary education still focus on the bachelor’s degree. (Yet,) the master’s degree has been the fastest-growing degree over the past two decades” (1).
The growth trend for graduate programs has been evident at HBU as well. The HBU Graduate Program reached a record 1,000 students during the 2017-2018 school year. For 2018, the number of graduate applications increased by five percent, and the number of enrolled students increased by almost nine percent.
Dr. Jeff Green, dean of the HBU Graduate School, said, “I think the need for more education to be successful in the workplace is a factor. People are looking for an extra level of specification, or even a certification.” In addition to traditional programs, the HBU Graduate School offers 20 certificates and licensures in areas including counseling, education and apologetics. Students may complete graduate-level certificates as part of a graduate degree program or as a stand-alone pursuit. “The most important thing is the actual knowledge you get from the classes,” Green said. “You can offer more value to employers, your family, church and community.”
HBU is especially appealing to many students because of the small class sizes, and the high-care admissions process. Applicants are assigned a graduate school coordinator to help with the admissions process, and scholarships are available at the graduate level. “The admissions coordinators wear a lot of hats,” Allyson Cates, director of Graduate Admissions, said. “In the office, via email or phone, they build relationships with their applicants, while walking them through the admissions application process. They answer financial aid questions, counsel, facilitate faculty and staff introductions, and help them register for classes. They connect personally with students, inviting them to various events, and keeping them in touch with what’s going on at HBU.”
The hands-on application and admissions approach extends not only to residential students, but to HBU Online students as well. In fact, HBU recently combined the admissions and recruiting efforts of the Pampell Online Division with the Graduate Admissions Office.
“A student can take courses on our main campus in Houston or participate in our online courses that are offered everywhere,” Dr. Steve Peterson, vice president for HBU Online/Digital Learning, said. “In fact, many students choose a combination of online and residential learning. It is really providing education for each student’s situation.”
The Graduate School Pathway
Students enter graduate school through a few different pathways, Keiffer said. First, there are the “straight-throughs,” those who enter graduate school immediately after earning an undergraduate degree. That’s the path that Keiffer took when he earned his MBA from HBU in 1997, the year after completing his BBA in Management. Then there are the “returners” who enter graduate school after spending some time in the workforce. Both groups have advantages and drawbacks, Keiffer said. Students who are not far removed from their collegiate study habits can have an easy transition into continuing their education with graduate school. Those who have spent time in the workforce, however, generally have an easier time understanding and applying the study material in the context of real-world situations. “Many individuals who have work experience are able to bring a wealth of information back into the classroom,” Keiffer said. “And the ‘straight-throughs’ can provide idealistic and original perspectives as well. They can all learn from each other.”
For some, going on for a master’s is just the logical next step. Master’s in Education student Christian Guzman decided quickly to go straight through while it was most expedient. “I just wanted to get my bachelor’s originally,” he said. “I never thought I would be working on my master’s.”
For Michael Leanes, pursuing a Master’s in Fine Arts with a specialization in Sculpture has allowed him to perfect his skills, which he uses to design and create wood and metal furniture for his own company. “The master’s program gave me the time to develop and craft my own style,” he said.
The graduate school route can be a continuation of undergraduate studies, or it can be a transition into another area. For example, a Biblical Studies undergraduate major who later enters the Master of Divinity program will be deepening his grasp and specific knowledge of a similar subject area. A Biblical Studies undergraduate major who later enters the Master of Science in Human Resources Management program, however, will have switched to another vocational specialty and will become marketable for that field. Although graduate programs like an MBA require leveling courses for students without an undergraduate background in the field, the graduate degree is an excellent tract into one’s chosen field.
Tyler Helaire pursued a Master’s in Human Resources Management to help him achieve his career goals. “It was always a plan to do more than just my undergraduate,” he said. “I just wanted to take it as far as I could go until I feel like I’m where I want to be in life.”
Whether they are looking to advance in a chosen field, or to change careers, students who are entering a graduate degree program are by nature more purposeful about their degree selection. “The biggest difference between undergraduate and graduate applicants is that nobody really expects an undergraduate applicant to know what he wants to do with his life,” Abraham said. “Graduate applicants are expected to know why they want the degree and how they want to use it. Most graduate programs want to know why you want in the specific program, and generally programs are harder to get into at the graduate level.”
Keiffer echoes that graduate school requires a special commitment, from admissions requirements through coursework. “An advanced degree takes a subject area to a specialized, specific level. Where one class might cover multiple topics at the undergraduate level, each class at the graduate level might cover one of those topics,” he said. “The volume of reading, work and research goes up considerably. It really is the idea of leaving no stone unturned.”
Payoff After Graduate School
One of the most obvious reasons for graduate school is that the degree allows the graduate to perform a job for which she would otherwise be unqualified. For example, a teacher might earn a Master of Education in order to advance to the position of assistant principal or principal. And, with increase in responsibilities, normally comes a promotion or an upgrade in pay.
According to the U.S Department of Labor, bachelor’s degree graduates earned a median weekly salary of $1,156, those with a master’s degree earned an average of $1,380 per week, and doctoral degree graduates earned $1,664 per week on average (2).
Yet, experts caution against assuming that a graduate degree is automatically a ticket to a bigger paycheck. According to Education Dive, an industry analysis organization, the payoff of master’s and doctoral degrees varies widely by profession. Master’s degrees in arts and humanities for example, can potentially yield lower payoff than bachelor’s degrees in fields like business and technology (3). CNBC recently posed the query: “The decision to pursue a master’s or doctorate degree is a significant one. Tuition and fees can translate into high student debt that could take longer to pay off than you think. But on the other hand, it could yield a well-paying job that makes the investment worth it. Which jobs are worth that investment?” The news organization compiled information from Finder.com and LinkedIn to present the top 20 most lucrative uses of graduate degrees, including roles like surgeon, senior corporate counsel and global marketing director (4).
The question of graduate school payoff is like the timeless analysis of the chicken or the egg coming first. “Is it the job that drives the dollars or is it the degree?” Keiffer asked. “A company is not just going to hire you because of your degree. But I really think many of the degrees are mechanisms to get into the next level of jobs. The degree is the entry to that higher-level job. It’s part of the whole picture that a candidate can offer.”
If potential graduate students are counting on a financial payoff for the degree, Aviva Legatt of Forbes Magazine advises them to explore questions like earnings before, during and after graduate school, tuition and education-related expenses, and expected lifetime earnings. “No matter who you are, there will be financial and personal sacrifices you make while in graduate school,” she says. “But the experience itself can be very rewarding and propel you beyond what you thought possible for your own potential” (5).
Reasons for a Graduate School Education
Like Legatt, Keiffer doesn’t give a blanket endorsement for pursuing a graduate education. “Should we always tell someone to get a graduate education? No,” he said. “They should have a plan for the degree, and be willing to go through what it takes to attain it. That said, I’ve always looked at education as something that is yours that nothing can take away from you.”
Sometimes the payoff of a graduate degree isn’t just financial. Denise Imery, who is earning her Master of Education in Curriculum and Instruction at HBU, continues to teach at Clear Lake Christian School. “I’ve been teaching for 18 years; it’s my life. I knew God wanted me to go through a renewal process. I knew God wanted me to be better prepared,” she said. “I enrolled in the program because I knew I was going to grow academically and spiritually.”
For some, a graduate degree means the achievement of a goal. A history instructor at a community college, for example, might make the same as a high school history teacher. However, if the graduate degree lets the instructor work in his desired setting, it is worth it. “Degrees don’t necessarily equate to money for people,” Keiffer said. “It may enable them to do what they actually want to do in life. A degree allows for flexibility.”
Especially at a school like HBU, one’s God-given calling is of great importance. For Master of Arts in Psychology student Jonathan Bohannon, the degree is a means to fulfill his life’s passion. He plans to specialize in assisting other veterans like himself. “God led me to this,” Bohannon said. His degree is an avenue to fulfill his mission.
Master of Arts in Theological Studies student Shelby Stafford chose HBU to further her education because she liked how theology and its application are intertwined. “What we learn translates into ministry and life,” she said.
Honoring the gifts that God has given each of us, cultivating talents and building knowledge are the aim of a graduate education, Green said. Some degree programs like the Master of Arts in Apologetics have a clear tie-in to evangelism, but other advanced degrees can be just as missional. They provide opportunities for influence and reach in any field. “I think there is Christian truth in business, nursing and many areas,” Green said. “In every area of inquiry, we can honor God, and engage vocationally from a Christian perspective.”
References
“The Master’s as the New Bachelor’s Degree: In Search of the Labor Market Payoff.” American Enterprise Institute’s Online Report. January 2018.
“Employment Projections.” United States Department of Labor: Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Online Report. October 2017.
“How Much Is a Master’s Degree Worth?” Education Dive’s Online Report. January 2018.
Ward, Marguerite. “20 High-Paying Jobs That Make Grad School Worth It.” CNBC’s Careers Feature. April 2017.
Legatt, Aviva. “How to Decide if Graduate School Is Worth Your Investment.” Forbes Magazine. July 2017.