Whether to go on to a master's after a bachelor's: first count the tuition and the two or three years of wages you will not earn, then see whether your own subject pays more; people already at work can do a part-time master's, with the same certificate force as full-time

A master's costs tuition, and it also costs two or three years of wages you do not earn; the latter is usually the larger part. In a UK study, after differences in family background and bachelor's results were taken out, women who had done a master's earned only about 2% more at 35, and men about 2% less, with large gaps by subject. People already at work can do a part-time master's; the certificate has the same force as full-time, but you do not get the state grant.

Cost

No money. Look once at the admissions notice and the tuition schedule, then run the sum against the job opportunity you have in hand. About one or two hours.

Benefit

First the cost. A 2013 national opinion sets tuition for a full-time academic master's, in principle, at not more than 8000 yuan a year. A full-time professional master's follows the old fee policy and is not under that ceiling; it is often much more expensive. Full-time postgraduates inside the enrollment plan can all receive the state postgraduate grant. For a master's it is not less than 6000 yuan a year; the exact standard is set locally. Next the return. A study published by the UK Department for Education in 2020 used national student records and tax records to follow people who finished a bachelor's from the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s. The study took out differences in family background and in bachelor's results, and looked at income at 35. The original wording is "we estimate returns of 2% (women) and -2% (men) for masters": women who had done a master's earned about 2% more than women with only a bachelor's, and men about 2% less. The subject gap is large. Women who did a master's in law, economics, or management earned about 20% more; those who did arts, English, or philosophy earned more than 10% less. For men, the master's return was clearly negative in most subjects, but law, economics, management, and engineering were still clearly positive. People already at work can sit a part-time master's and study while working. A 2016 Ministry of Education notice provides that part-time and full-time sit the same entrance exam and are trained to the same standard. The two kinds of academic and degree certificates "have equal legal status and the same force"; the graduation certificate notes the mode of study. The state grant goes only to full-time postgraduates inside the enrollment plan; part-time students do not receive it. In 2019, five ministries including the Ministry of Education issued a notice. Civil-service recruitment and open hiring by public institutions and state firms must give equal job opportunity to postgraduates of different modes of study. Those hirings must not set application conditions unrelated to the post. The Ministry of Education 2021 graduate employment notice states that recruitment notices of Party and government organs, public institutions, and state firms must not use mode of study as a restrictive condition. The 2022 notice again states that all kinds of campus recruitment must not restrict that way

Notes

Contested. Earlier UK studies kept finding a positive return to a master's. The authors of this study think their own data are finer and the adjustments cleaner. The authors also grant that they could not adjust away differences such as motivation and job preferences. The data stop at age 35 and use people who graduated twenty or thirty years ago. No figure that adjusts for personal differences in the same way was found for China, so this can only be read as a direction. The evidence grade is therefore B. The way to run the sum is the same as item 6 of this section (study or go to work): set the two or three years of wages not earned against the extra earned each year after. Some job notices state outright that a master's is required, for example universities, research institutes, and some state firms. In that case the education threshold is itself the return, and it has to be counted separately. The part-time notices are ministry notices; they state no penalty and no office to complain to if they are broken. They govern how recruitment notices are written; they do not govern whom the employer finally picks. Campus recruitment has an explicit limit; no explicit rule on mode of study was found for private employers' open social hiring. The 2025 admissions management rules state that part-time programs in principle admit only people already at work who will return to their original employer after graduation. Tuition, awards and aid, and housing are written by the school into the admissions charter. How household registration and files are handled is not uniformly set in any national document found for this book; before you apply, read the notice carefully and ask the school.

Sources · 2

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