can I survive with a MSW?

[vaporpoo]

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Hello,
I'm currently an undergraduate student in her junior year.

My plan is to immediately continue my education after graduation, and I've decided pursuing a MSW would be right for me. At the same time though, I have a lot of doubts and uncertainties. First off, my GPA is a 3.98, which I'm going to assume is better than most. But I have zero work experience and 30 hours of volunteer experience. I plan to add to my volunteer experience this year, but there's only so much experience I can get within one year. I was wondering if this will bar me from the admissions process? Or will my high GPA balance things out? I've heard that within MSW programs, GPA isn't a huge factor.

My second concern is tuition. There is only one school that offers a MSW in my state. Assuming I get into the one school in my state (Portland State University), I will still incur quite a bit in student loans, because although tuition may be on the cheap side, there's also stuff like living expenses etc. Then, there's the chance that I won't be admitted to this in-state school, so I'll incur much, much more debt in another state. I assume it could go up to $100,000 or higher?

This would be all good and fine, but I know social workers make something around $30,000-$50,000 a year. Will it be possible to pay off my student loans on this income? I'd hate to be indebted until I'm 50, living in crappy areas and driving unsafe cars.

Finally, once I obtain a MSW, how easy is it to get a job?

Thanks in advance for answering my questions. It's good to be idealistic, but at the same time, I'm trying to be realistic with my options. I wish tuition and such weren't so expensive.🙁

 

[biogirl215]

First of all, an MSW is two years and at PSU would cost you about $28,314 in tuition and fees in state (though I'd suggest you adjust up for tution increases)--how much do you expect to accrue in living expenses?

Also, what do you want to do? Why an MSW? What's your academic background (having a BSW means an MSW can be completed in one year and a summer)?

 

[vaporpoo]

Hi biogirl, thanks for responding. 🙂

I'm majoring in sociology. I want to pursue a masters in social work since my dream job has always been doing clinical counseling, but also because a MSW will afford me a lot of flexibility (at least, supposedly?). This is important, as I'm young and inexperienced and would love a chance to work with a variety of clients at a variety of settings before choosing a specialty, if I ever do.

My dad estimates my living expenses will be about 20k/year. I'm not sure how accurate this is. He says he added expenses for going out to movies, eating out at restaurants, etc. I re-calculated, and I think I could reduce my expense to about 12-15k a year, but I'm uncertain since I'm sure there are costs I haven't factored in. Even at a low estimate though, I will probably have at least 50k in loans. Even if I could get about 10k in scholarships (and this is probably a high estimate), that's still 40k in loans. I assume this would be difficult to pay off on a 40k salary, and will probably take a long time?

Finally, there's the chance that I might have to go to an out of state school which would increase my tuition. So before I jump into this career I'd like to be sure that I can pay off the loans and live decently. I'd like to hear from people who have gotten MSWs and if they were okay financially.

 

[2BeAProfessor]

Vaporpoo,

Apply for graduate assistantships to the schools your applying to. After all, you are going to be a 'graduate student'!

 

[thepsychgeek]

Short answer: yes.

Long answer: Loans are an option, but you're also going to want to apply for fellowships/assistantships/workstudy through your school, as well as private scholarships. That will help keep your loans to a minimum. Also? fixed-rate is your friend.

 

[nashvegas]

You can get decent jobs with an MSW. I am an MSW I am making $44,000/year. Now granted part of that is because of the experience I had. BUT you cannot just stop at an MSW you will really need and LCSW to do clinical or individual counseling. Most places and MSW does most group work not individual, although some places you are able to do individual, but because of insurance you would have to be licensed, again depending on your place of employment and the services they offer.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

If you find your niche, you can do well.

Best of luck.

 

[xenobart]

I absolutely think getting an MSW is worth it financially, but I would try to get the minimal amount of debt possible. Most people I've talked to who went to expensive private schools (eg Columbia, USC) for their MSW regretted having all that debt. I picked an in-state public to save money. If you take out all loans for your education / living expenses, you're probably taking out 40-50k in two years at my school. That isn't too awful.

I'd definitely try to go to portland state (even though MSW programs don't focus on GPA, a 3.98 is EXCELLENT and will really help you. Just work on getting more experience this year / next summer, get close to profs and supervisors for letters of rec, and write a great essay.), for lowest debt possible. Then, look into the scholarships you can get. Especially if you come from underrrepresented groups, you have a good chance of getting scholarships from your school. There are also outside scholarships you can apply for, eg, I got a large scholarships from doing Americorps that's paying for 1/4th of my tuition. Some other ways to cut costs:

- Don't have a car, if possible.
- See if you can stay on your parents' insurance instead of the expensive school insurance.
- If you need to go OOS, CA public universities allow people to gain residency and in-state tuition after one year.
- Work, definitely during the summer, and a minimal amount of hours during the semesters / quarters. Not necessariy in the field, as you might make more elsewhere.

I'm just a student, but I feel like there's a ton of jobs for MSWs (and especially LCSWs, if you decide to get licensed) out there, although you may not get your first choice job at any given time as a new graduate.