abaya

Well, not all of us... I'm on my 4th year of a PhD in anthropology and demography, with 2-3 more years ahead of me... and let me tell you, it's not for the salary I'll get when I'm done!

Then again, I was a high school teacher before this, so I suppose my salary couldn't get much lower (relative to my level of education)... having a PhD in general will boost my salary in any field, unless I decide to start over with a new career when I finish. Which is very likely, given my tendency to get bored with whatever I'm doing after a few years. (I would love to pursue professional photography next! Or massage therapy.)

All that to say, school isn't everything. Once you get past the lower levels of education (e.g. at least a bachelor's), you've REALLY got to love what you're doing in order to make it feel worth your time/salary (opportunity costs, in the social science lingo). For me, I've basically taken 4-6 years of earning in my 20's and displaced them with poverty-level graduate student income, though I'm not paying for school and thus incurring no debt. So it's a win-win situation, seeing as my income as a teacher wouldn't have been more than $35,000 a year, as it was.

Then again, if I was making $100,000 a year and gave THAT up for half a decade of school... well, that's a massive opportunity cost. As I said, it had better be worth it, for you... either personally, or financially (in terms of making an even bigger salary after your next degree). Those are the things to weigh in your mind. For me, my PhD is not worth that kind of money, but I do like what I do... (most of the time) and I'm not losing much by pursuing it.

__________________
And think not you can direct the course of Love;
for Love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.
--Khalil Gibran