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Cash Cow Masters Programs
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So I'm a prospective grad student in statistics and I'm debating which programs to apply to. I'm one year out of undergrad with a bachelor's in engineering with a statistics concentration and I want to switch careers from engineering to statistics. I'm particularly interested in data science and biostats. I am more interested in a masters' than a PhD because I want to go into industry, but I would rather not rule out the possibility of a PhD.
I've been told a lot of Stats/Applied Stats MS programs such as Columbia's are cash cows and might not give the best bang for the buck. One program I've seen as pretty interested is Michigan's MS in Applied Stats because they have so many cognate classes available in other departments. I'd like to know if this is a cash cow program or if it would prepare me well for a career in industry. Also, if I could get a little advice on how to discern cash cow programs from those that care about and prepare their MS students for industry, that would be great.
Thank you!
Top Comment: So this is definitely a growing issue , but honestly, I think the standard rule holds: you pay what seems reasonable to pay based on your projected future earnings, and you don't overspend just for the name or the alumni network. There's no question that departments which don't offer funding to Masters students are using that tuition to subsidize their other expenses. However, the question is how this affects you. If this degree is going to significantly increase your career options and salary, and there's no funding available to offset the costs, do you care? I think, if you're planning to go into academia, the university should absolutely subsidize your training (i.e. your grad degree) given how long you're in school. However, I don't have a problem with the academy trying to offer more industry oriented degrees, with less funding offered because the idea is that the student can recoup tuition costs through a higher paying job. To me, a cash cow program is an unfunded Masters that has a very low ROI/provides training for a PhD and therefore should be subsidized. Here's a grad school ROI calculator if you want to plug in your numbers and see how much you need to worry. Full disclosure: I'm in an unfunded Masters program right now (my previous Masters was 100% funded) and the tuition is extremely reasonable (less than my undergrad actually), my employer is paying for part of it, and it should open some doors professionally. So I'm admittedly biased. But I wouldn't spend more than I could stand to recoup in a few years, and I'm choosing to leave my job and pay for the rest myself so no one's fault but mine here.
What exactly are "cash cow" programs?
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I've only recently gotten more active on this sub and have seen this term being used quite frequently, particularly in the context of Masters degrees (which is what I'm trying to go for, particularly MS Data Science).
I was wondering if anyone might be able to provide me with some context on what exactly a "cash cow" program means and the consequences that it might entail? From my initial searches online, it seemed that a cash cow is something positive but after reading some posts on this sub and others, I get an impression that the case is otherwise.
Would highly appreciate it if anyone could provide some insight, or link other articles or posts that could be a useful resource. Thanks!
Top Comment:
Cash cows are a good thing if you're the person with the cow! They're cash cows for the university - programs that departments run in order to get revenue and fund other aspects of their operation. That's the case with a lot of masters programs in the US: admitting large numbers of students, charging them high fees, and not giving a lot of access to faculty or research opportunities. It's probably going to be more prevalent in trendy fields like data science.
It doesn't necessarily mean that attending those programs isn't worth it for you - credentials are credentials, and you'd still be getting a real and valuable education. But the use of the term "cash cow" I think is useful to remind you of what the university's incentives are: admit lots of students, get their money, and don't spend more time or resources on them than you need.
(Some places don't have large PhD programs, so masters students are treated more like junior scholars and given TA/RA opportunities. Not every masters program is a cash cow.)
Stacking Cash Back + Loyalty Apps and Programs : PersonalFinanceCanada
Main Post: Stacking Cash Back + Loyalty Apps and Programs : PersonalFinanceCanada
Stacking Cash Back + Loyalty Apps and Programs
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Savvy PFC Community:
Does anyone have experience/data points around stacking some of the cash back and/or loyalty apps and programs?
For example, using Drop + Rakuten together?
There are some combos that I think will definitely work (Paymi + Rakuten + credit card cashback), but because Drop and Rakuten both require you to shop through one of their referral links, am wondering if that would work. I was thinking you'd have to use Drop's referral link and Rakuten's browser extension, but not sure if one would cancel out the other (for example, I tried using Honey's coupons once together with Rakuten and it didn't work).
Does anyone else have experience or suggestions on how to maximize cash back by stacking?
Top Comment: I use Rakuten and honey. Simply create an account with the website you're shopping on. Add things to your cart. Go.to.chrck.out with honey, get / apply a coupon code. Then shut the tab and open in through Rakuten. Sign into your account , open Cart and checkout
ELI5: How do credit card cash back programs work?
Main Post: ELI5: How do credit card cash back programs work?
Top Comment: You use your credit card to buy stuff. For every purchase you make, you will be credited with a percentage of the purchase price in a cash back account. The percentage will depend on which particular credit card you use, and in some cases, it will be affected by the type of items you purchase. For example, one card may give 1% cash back on groceries and 2% cash back on gas. If this is the case and you spend $50 on groceries, you'll earn $0.50 in your cash back account. Over time, you accumulate more substantial amounts of money in your cash back account. So what can you do with what you've earned in cash back? You can redeem it for that amount of money and have it added to a bank account (i.e. literally getting cash back). You can use that amount to pay your credit card bill. You may also have the ability to use it to get gift cards or directly pay for some purchases.
Graduates of Columbia University's "cash cow" masters programs, where are you now?
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I got into an MA program this past spring with a small merit-based scholarship ($10,000 + hopefully FLAS ($18,000 tuition plus $15,000 stipend for the school year + $5,000 tuition and $2,500 stipend for the summer). I was granted a deferral to fall 2019. I'll get another bite at the financial aid apple and can be reconsidered for more merit aid due to the deferral. While I was initially overjoyed, I've been scouring this sub and the GradCafe forum and it seems that Columbia has a notorious reputation for "cash cow" grad programs. What should I look out for to determine whether my program fits the definition of a "cash cow" or not? And for grads of "cash cow" terminal masters, where are you now? Where are your outcomes career-wise? How much are you earning? Do you have any regrets? Are you in a lot of educational debt? Would appreciate some guidance as I am getting cold feet. :(
I'm considering Columbia's MSW program as an alternative (online option so I can live with family and save money).
Top Comment:
I’m an MSW student as well, and just want to mention that there are distance programs that cost WAY less than Columbia. Columbia is crazy expensive!
You can still be a distance student but will end up owing way less with other programs. In our field, the name of your school is not going to result in a much higher salary.
Any card programs doing cash back on Turo currently?
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Looking to do a 9 day rental in DFW and normal rental companies have jacked rates through the roof, for the first time ever it's actually going to be cheaper for me to use Turo. I know a couple cards used to have Turo as a cash back rewards pretty regularly, anyone know if one is currently running one? I have a lot of cards for occasions like this.
Top Comment: Probably expired: "Amex Offer: Earn 4,500 Points Through Turo Car Sharing" https://thepointsguy.com/news/amex-offer-earn-4500-points-after-spending-150-with-turo-car-rental/amp/
Cash/rewards programs on the side with instacart.
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Ever since I started doing instacart I realized that this would be an awesome opportunity to make some side cash as well. So I though I would share what I have been doing and hopefully get some feedback from others about what programs I could be doing as well.
- Ibotta. Ibotta is a rebate app that allows you to redeem rebates based on some of the items you buy. Every time I do an order I look through the app to see if there is anything the customer is purchasing that I can get a rebate off of. They also offer a lot of promotions that give you extra cash back for purchasing certain items or redeeming rebates in a certain amount of time. So far I'm at $12.45 in rebates ($8 of which I made this month after getting back into using the app again). What's unfortunate is that you can't actually cash out until you reach $20. You probably won't get rich using it but still worth using. If you're thinking about using the app PM me and I will share my referral code so we can both make extra.
- Grocery store gas rewards programs. Now this one is actually incredibly worth it and I highly recommend it. Some stores have rewards programs for gas based on how much you spend in the store. Once you set up a phone number you punch it in during checkout and get rewarded in gas points. I currently have this set up at Albertsons where every dollar spent is 1 point. Every 100 points can be used at Chevron/vonns for 10 cents off per gallon. I did 2 order from Albertsons yesterday and received about 300 points. I used 200 to get 20 off at the pump last night. Ended up paying 2.25 per gallon. My plan next time is to wait til I have 1000 points to get a full dollar off per gallon. My only regret is that I didn't start doing this sooner as I would be swimming in points now. You may not have that exact program in your area but I know it's a common practice at a lot of grocery stores.
- Postmates. This used to be my primary working app before Instacart however they have no guarantee and my market is saturated with drivers so I mostly moved on. However I do still like to turn it on between instacart deliveries to kill time between order and still earn.
If you have anything else you do to make a little extra on the side feel free to share. I'd love to try some more things.
Top Comment:
These are all great ideas.
Some grocery stores have the coupons printed on the back for nearby store that sometimes have good deals. Car washes, food, car maintenance type things.
For gas I find even with the reward programs, Costco is still cheaper in my area.