A master’s in digital marketing costs up to $84,086. The alternative costs as little as $31.
A survey of universities in the US offering master’s degrees in digital marketing has revealed that attending graduate school can be up to 10 times less profitable and 3 times slower than self-learning online.
Cost comparison
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In contrast, it costs as little $31 and as much as $4,859 to enroll in an unaccredited online course on digital marketing, start a website, pay for all the tools and budget necessary to run digital campaigns. Compared with attending graduate school, learning digital marketing with an unaccredited course and starting a website is:
- 10 times more profitable, with a return on investment of 521% three years after getting a digital marketing job - compared to a return of 53% from a digital marketing degree.
- 4 times cheaper , with a total cost (including opportunity cost) of $20,752 in the worst-case scenario - versus a total cost of $84,086 for attending graduate school.
- 3 times faster , assuming 6 months of self-learning and growing a website full time - instead of the average of 19 months it takes to complete a master’s in digital marketing.
ROI comparison
Commentary on master's in digital marketing
Tommy Griffith, the founder of ClickMinded, maintains that the quality of unaccredited courses can compete with the best graduate schools: “ our instructors are not academics—they are digital marketing experts and practitioners from companies like Airbnb, Lyft, and TechStars. You can rarely get access to that kind of talent in a graduate school environment ”.
Kian Paras, a student of ClickMinded, claims “ these courses have helped me get several remote jobs to pay off debt. I currently work remotely for 3 businesses in North America ”.
Griffith’s prediction is that this trend will continue to grow and expand to other areas: “ attending graduate school for digital marketing and many other topics doesn’t make financial sense anymore - there are many options available that are far better, faster, and cheaper ”.
Tuition for digital marketing degrees in the US cost an average of $33,890 and take 19 months to complete. Considering the median yearly income, the real cost goes up to $84,086.
Moreover, with an average entry-level digital marketing salary of $42,946 per year, it will take graduates up to 23 months to break even on their investment in an ideal scenario (without loan interest payments and using 100% of their salary to pay back the cost of the degree).
| Going to school (getting a digital marketing degree) | |||
| Stat | Value | Source | Comments |
| Median yearly income US (2017) | $31,786 | https://www.thebalance.com/what-is-average-income-in-usa-family-household-history-3306189 | |
| Average degree cost | $33,890 | calculation | |
| Median degree cost | $33,528 | calculation | |
| Average duration | 19 | calculation | |
| Median duration | 18 | calculation | |
| Total cost (tuition + salary lost) | $84,086 | calculation | assuming no loans interest payments |
| Entry level digital marketing salary (specialist, analyst) | $42,946 | https://digitalmarketinginstitute.com/en-eu/blog/whats-the-future-of-digital-marketing-salaries | |
| Net salary increase | $11,160 | calculation | |
| ROI (1 year after graduating) | -49% | calculation | |
| ROI (2 years after graduating) | 2% | calculation | assuming no increase in salary |
| ROI (3 years after graduating) | 53% | calculation | assuming no increase in salary |
| Break-even point (months) | 23 | calculation | after finishing the degree |
| Costs of going to college | ||||
| University / College | Cost | Duration | Source | Notes |
| George Washington University | $21,180 | 12 | https://business.gwu.edu/prospective-students/graduate-certificate-admissions https://financialaid.gwu.edu/cost-of-attendance |
certificate, 12 credits |
| West Virginia University | $24,600 | 18 | https://online.wvu.edu/programs/integrated-marketing-communications-m-s/ | 30 credits |
| PACE University | $46,980 | 18 | https://www.pace.edu/lubin/ms-in-social-media-mobile-marketing https://www.pace.edu/admission-aid/graduate-admission/graduates/tuition-and-fees |
36 credits, $1,305/credit |
| NYU | $65,547 | 24 | https://www.sps.nyu.edu/homepage/academics/masters-degrees/ms-in-integrated-marketing.html https://www.sps.nyu.edu/homepage/admissions/tuition-and-fees/tuition-calculator-graduate-ft.html |
Masters in integrated marketing with digital marketing concentration 36 credits, 12 credits/semester, $21,849/semester |
| USC Annenberg | $57,256 | 18 | http://annenberg.usc.edu/school-communication/master-digital-social-media/admissions/curriculum https://financialaid.usc.edu/graduates/prospective/how-much-wil-my-education-cost.html |
Master of Science in Digital Social Media |
| East Tenessee State University | $25,416 | 24 | https://www.etsu.edu/cbat/msdm/curriculum.php https://www.etsu.edu/cbat/msdm/financial.php |
36 credits, $706/credit |
| Southern New Hampshire University | $22,572 | 15 | https://www.snhu.edu/online-degrees/masters/ms-in-marketing/digital-marketing | 36 credits, $627/credit |
| Sacred Heart University | $34,740 | 15 | http://www.sacredheart.edu/academics/jackwelchcollegeofbusiness/graduateprogramscertificates/msindigitalmarketing/degreerequirements/ https://www.sacredheart.edu/officesservices/studentaccounts/tuitionfees/graduatetuitionfees2019-2020/ |
36 credits, $965/credit |
| University of Florida | $17,441 | 16 | https://onlinemasters.jou.ufl.edu/digital-strategy/ | 36 credits |
| Full Sail University | $28,000 | 16 | https://www.fullsail.edu/resources/brochure-file/full-sail-catalog.pdf | 37 credits, $757/credit |
| Concordia University | $33,255 | 24 | https://www.mbastudies.com/M.B.A-Digital-Marketing/USA/Concordia-University-Chicago/#description | 51 credits |
| Rutgers | $44,208 | 15 | https://www.business.rutgers.edu/sites/default/files/documents/factsheet-digital-marketing.pdf | 12 courses, $3684/course |
| Montclair State University | $33,800 | 26 | http://onlinemba.montclair.edu/mba-digital-marketing/ http://onlinemba.montclair.edu/admission-tution/ |
30 credits |
| Emerson | $40,832 | 16 | https://www.emerson.edu/programs/digital-marketing-and-data-analytics-online-ma https://www2.emerson.edu/billing/costs-billing-schedules/graduate?_ga=2.55529707.1170045835.1572448987-1121144434.1572448987 |
32 credits, $1,276/credit |
| Messiah College | $24,840 | 24 | https://www.messiah.edu/grad-school/mba-digital-marketing | 36 credits |
| Northern Illinois University | $33,930 | 24 | https://www.cob.niu.edu/academics/marketing/ms-digital-marketing/index.shtml | 39 credits |
| Liberty University | $20,340 | 24 | https://www.liberty.edu/online/business/masters/marketing/digital-marketing-advertising/ https://www.liberty.edu/index.cfm?PID=296 |
36 credits, $565/credit |
| Brandeis | $35,370 | 24 | https://www.brandeis.edu/gps/future-students/learn-about-our-programs/digital-marketing.html https://www.brandeis.edu/gps/future-students/Get-started/view-tuition-information.html#Tuition |
30 credits, $1,179/credit |
| Florida International University | $31,500 | 10 | https://business.fiu.edu/graduate/marketing/tuition.cfm | 30 credits |
| St Edward's University | $36,000 | 16 | https://www.stedwards.edu/graduate/master-science-digital-marketing-and-analytics https://www.stedwards.edu/admission-financial-aid/graduate/tuition-fees |
30 credits, $1200/credit |
| Learning on your own (starting a website and taking online courses) | |||
| Stat | Value | Source | Comments |
| Median yearly income US (2017) | $31,786 | https://www.thebalance.com/what-is-average-income-in-usa-family-household-history-3306189 | |
| Cost (tools + courses) | $4,859 | ||
| Total cost (tools + courses + salary lost) | $20,752 | absolute worst-case scenario (all paid tools) | |
| Entry level digital marketing salary (specialist, analyst) | $42,946 | https://digitalmarketinginstitute.com/en-eu/blog/whats-the-future-of-digital-marketing-salaries | |
| Net salary increase | $11,160 | calculation | |
| ROI (1 year of work) | 107% | calculation | |
| ROI (2 years of work) | 314% | calculation | assuming no increase in salary |
| ROI (3 years of work) | 521% | calculation | assuming no increase in salary |
| Break-even point (months) | 6 | calculation | after 6 months of self-learning |
| Costs of starting a website, blog, or online business | |||
| Item | Cost | Source | Notes |
| Self-learning | $0-$1,000 | Udemy, Coursera, ClickMinded, Udacity, YouTube, blogs, etc. | |
| Self-learning duration | 0-6 months | N/A | |
| Web hosting | $31/year | https://www.dreamhost.com/hosting/shared/ | shared hosting, includes domain name |
| Self-hosted WordPress Site | $0 | N/A | |
| Theme | $0-60 | https://themeforest.net/popular_item/by_category?category=wordpress | |
| Email marketing software | $0-$29/mo | https://mailchimp.com/pricing/ , https://convertkit.com/pricing | assuming <1000 subscribers |
| Social media marketing software | $0 | https://buffer.com/pricing/publish | |
| Analytics software | $0 | https://marketingplatform.google.com/about/analytics/ | |
| SEO software | $0-$99/mo | https://yoast.com/wordpress/plugins/seo/ , https://ads.google.com/home/tools/keyword-planner/, https://ahrefs.com/pricing | |
| Content marketing software | $0 | https://www.google.com/docs/about/ , https://www.grammarly.com/ | |
| Project management software | $0 | https://asana.com/pricing | |
| Running paid campaigns | $3,000 | assuming a $500/mo budget for 6 months | |
ClickMinded is a digital marketing training platform with over 22,000 students. It was founded by Tommy
Griffith, former SEO Manager from PayPal and Airbnb.
Contact : Tommy Griffith, [email protected]
