In response to “Mailbag” (Sept. 28 issue):

I am responding to Maria Teresa Velez’s (letter) in which it states grad school is still a great option. I agree that (a) grad degree is greater than (a) bachelor’s and associate degree, but I was wondering whether the benefit is from education or other factors.

Yes, statistics shows that the mean income of people holding a grad degree is higher. Is the higher income resulting from the education or other factors? Take MBA, for example. Many students taking the MBA are already at management level, earning higher income.

The demand of the grad degree is likely lower than the supply. Many companies are not willing to pay the mean salary to new grads or even hire them because they do not have experience.

Because of the low (employment) rate, people are going for graduate education. When more people are going to graduate education, in a few years, the master degree is likely to be equivalent to high school diploma. The next generation has to spend more years in school than we do but (will) not necessary get benefits out of it.

Now, the economy and education do not talk to each other a lot. Our focus should be to improve the education and economy.

— Julian Jiang
Accounting specialist
The Honors College