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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Piggybacking on the everyone gets laid off at 55 post and turning to the Internet for advice.

Would you attempt to get a masters degree in social work at 55 years old or is it too late?

I have a college degree and a job that pays about the same as I would make as a social worker, maybe a little more but not much. In no danger of getting laid off but the job is boring and obviously not financially rewarding.  I own my home outright but have all the usual expenses which I meet by living frugally. When I sell I will receive a large windfall because I bought so long ago in a now highly desirable area and if I can get a handle on capital gains as a non married person, I should be ok. I have some retirement savings but nothing spectacular although I picture working until I physically can't. This would be by choice regardless of my financial circumstances.

I want to throw caution to the wind and just go for it. I'm looking at a cheaper public program and two more expensive privates which are truly better programs with better professors and a better caliber of student. For this program only! Not dissing public programs in general. I would have to take out loans but I'm not scared of them since I am so old. Part of Mr feels like if I'm going to put in the work, I should go for the highest level option.

I have ruminated  on pursuing this degree for years and although I regret not doing it sooner, I don't want to give up this dream unless I am being completely unrealistic right now. Interested in any thoughts or advice. [/quote]

At your age, you should be thinking about retirement, not ruminating about unfulfilled dreams and opportunities that are long gone.[/quote]

OP, I hope you are ignoring responses like the one posted above.  Your thoughtful question is not 'ruminating' and you are not asking to 'go back in time'.  Your question is super inspiring!

Colleagues of mine who recently completed their masters degrees have said that they were really grateful for the expertise and commitment of their professors, and that the work was much more in depth than they had anticipated.  Can you attend any open house events or panels where former students discuss their experiences with the programs?  The ability to listen to the Q&A and hear a variety of responses can be really helpful.

One graduate school open house panel that I attended a few years ago had students of all ages and life stages, and one woman had started her masters degree at the same time as you are considering.  The timing worked really well for her because her some of her step-children were in college and the youngest one was in later high school, so she was able to have the physical time and emotional bandwidth to do the course work and she talked about bonding more with her high schooler especially since they both were writing papers at home in the evenings.  Other graduates on the panel also talked about being glad that they had lots of time for the course work as well.  I realized that I could not proceed with enrolling because my existing commitments were too time intensive then and I did not want to change my existing commitments.

So, absolutely, it's not too late to start and complete a masters degree.  Who will be attending the program, and  who or where would you have access to emotional support when the workload gets heavy?  Or, if you are not someone who likes to study or 'talk shop' with other people, what would be your non-school emotional reset/strengthening activity that could keep you in touch with people or an activity that you like that has nothing to do with school?

Good luck!  55 is not the time to close doors[/quote]

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