Before I go to lunch, some numbers courtesy Gnumeric

[jasonscheirer]

I've calculated that if you've been working as a computer programmer (Programmer III or higher) it doesn't make sense to quit and go to graduate school full time. These data assume a few things:

1. You start out as a Programmer III in the simulation at $65k/yr (assume this simulation starts 5 years out of college).
2. You put aside 5% from your gross pay into a modest 5% savings investment of some sort.
3. You make an adjusted 1% salary increase per year (not enough to even cover the 3% inflation rate).
4. As a graduate student, you make a flat $20k yearly stipend and continue to invest.
5. When you leave graduate school, you start a programming position somewhere at $90k/yr.
The data:
Graduate School Earnings v. Staying Employed Year Salary Gross Earnings Savings Salary - Grad School Gross Earnings Savings 1 $65000.00 $65000.00 $3250.00 $65000.00 $65000.00 $3250.00 2 $65650.00 $130650.00 $9945.00 $20000.00 $85000.00 $7662.50 3 $66306.50 $196956.50 $20290.08 $20000.00 $105000.00 $13295.63 4 $66969.57 $263926.07 $34500.88 $20000.00 $125000.00 $20210.41 5 $67639.26 $331565.33 $52804.19 $20000.00 $145000.00 $28470.93 6 $68315.65 $399880.98 $75438.45 $90000.00 $235000.00 $41644.47 7 $68998.81 $468879.79 $102654.36 $90900.00 $325900.00 $60021.70 8 $69688.80 $538568.59 $134715.51 $91809.00 $417709.00 $83908.23 9 $70385.69 $608954.27 $171899.00 $92727.09 $510436.09 $113625.45 10 $71089.54 $680043.82 $214496.14 $93654.36 $604090.45 $149511.24 11 $71800.44 $751844.25 $262813.16 $94590.90 $698681.36 $191920.87 12 $72518.44 $824362.70 $317171.95 $95536.81 $794218.17 $241227.82 13 $73243.63 $897606.32 $377910.87 $96492.18 $890710.35 $297824.73 14 $73976.06 $971582.39 $445385.53 $97457.10 $988167.45 $362124.34 15 $74715.82 $1046298.21 $519969.72 $98431.67 $1086599.13 $434560.52 16 $75462.98 $1121761.19 $602056.26 $99415.99 $1186015.12 $515589.30 17 $76217.61 $1197978.80 $692058.01 $100410.15 $1286425.27 $605690.03 18 $76979.79 $1274958.59 $790408.85 $101414.25 $1387839.52 $705366.50 19 $77749.59 $1352708.18 $897564.70 $102428.40 $1490267.92 $815148.22 20 $78527.08 $1431235.26 $1014004.69 $103452.68 $1593720.60 $935591.67 21 $79312.35 $1510547.61 $1140232.31 $104487.21 $1698207.80 $1067281.64 22 $80105.48 $1590653.09 $1276776.58 $105532.08 $1803739.88 $1210832.72 23 $80906.53 $1671559.62 $1424193.39 $106587.40 $1910327.28 $1366890.72 24 $81715.60 $1753275.22 $1583066.82 $107653.27 $2017980.55 $1536134.28 25 $82532.75 $1835807.97 $1754010.56 $108729.81 $2126710.36 $1719276.51 26 $83358.08 $1919166.05 $1937669.39 $109817.10 $2236527.46 $1917066.71 27 $84191.66 $2003357.71 $2134720.74 $110915.27 $2347442.74 $2130292.18 28 $85033.58 $2088391.28 $2345876.35 $112024.43 $2459467.17 $2359780.15 29 $85883.91 $2174275.20 $2571883.92 $113144.67 $2572611.84 $2606399.75 30 $86742.75 $2261017.95 $2813529.02 $114276.12 $2686887.96 $2871064.13
Your gross earned income over the years doesn't catch up to non-grad school until year 14, and the balance on your savings/investments don't catch up until year 28!

The lesson here: graduate education is a sham if you're 'only' going to be getting a 25-30% increase in pay because of it after a long gap with lower pay. However, this set of numbers breaks down if you go ahead and do grad school at night over the course of 4-6 years, and all of a sudden you're getting way more than you would in either situation above.