I wrote about how we're in a education bubble last week. You may feel torn. Yes, the watering down of advanced degrees and the piling up of student loan debt is worrisome . It's unsustainable and you don't want to partake in the current system because something is going to go down sooner or later. On the other hand, if you opt out of postgraduate education, you feel like you're limiting yourself and will be underqualified when everyone you're competing against has a Master's degree. So even if you didn't want to go grad school, you feel like you still have to, just so that you don't hit your ceiling.

It's a tricky spot to be in. Postgraduate education has a lot of appeal in this shitty job market, but right now I personally only see three crystal clear justifications for going for postgraduate education that I am 100% comfortable endorsing:

1. It's literally stopping you from getting your dream job: You know exactly what you want to do. You have found your life calling. You will never be happy until you get to do this specific job, and there is absolutely no way you can get into that line of work without the degree(s). If this is truly the case, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?
2. You hustled and get to go to a good school for free/cheap: Not going to pretend I know anything about schorlarships or financial aid, but if you somehow were resourceful and found a way to go to school for free as a graduate assistant, or you won some crazy grant money, awesome. I will say, however, it's only beneficial if you go to a top school. Going to a subpar postgrad program that doesn't challenge you, help you find a job, or allow you to network with amazing people is only going to delay the real world for two years. You'd be better off working on your career.
3. You have endless funds and it really, really, doesn't matter what you do with your life: I still think there are better things to do than go back to school even if you're loaded, but if you have so much money that you can do whatever you want and you'd love to go back to school, go for it!

I'm guessing these three scenarios don't apply to most of us. Here are some popular reasons for going to grad school that are questionable at best:

• You want to escape working for a year or two
• You feel like you can't move up at your current job
• You think it will make all the difference on your resume
• You don't care about debt (You should. This is real money, folks.)
• You think everyone will be lining up to offer you a job when you have a Master's
• You are going to get kicked out of the country and want to stay on that student visa
• It's not about getting a job-- you want to learn and be intellectually challenged
• You impulsively decide you want to completely change field and need a degree
• You don't know what else to do

Don't get me wrong, I love school. Had I the money, I'd be there right now. But with the average masters' graduate oweing about $30,000, and the average library card costing about $0...you do the math. Can't afford that Master's but still want to get your learning on? I have some excellent ideas. Check back next week.