When you’re dead.

My Mother got her Bachelor’s degree at 55. She graduated with some rare honours.

NEVER stop learning!

It’s got nothing to do with age. As you pointed out there are financial reasons where you might not be able to. But that’s realy the only hurdle. And there are plenty of ways to clear it.

It’s never too late. If you’re 110 you might not make it to graduation though.

When you’re dead.

I went to school with quite a few mature students. They were all great classmates.

Lots of seniors go because they want edification. Never a stupid idea.

Now if you are asking financially, that depends on the time and cost of the program and the anticipated market for that kind of work. Do the math. Cost of school (tuition, books, materials and living expenses x number of years of the program) - opportunity cost of not working your current gig during those years, + the estimated differential of what you reasonably think you could make for the remainder of your new career before retirement.

Every program, job market and tuition support is different. Do the math with your own local info.

depends why you are attending school. If it’s to get a piece of paper, likely will not affect you later in life. if it’s just to learn, walk in and audit a class. I have never said no to people auditing my lectures.

I have a friend that is taking courses at 50… but we’re not in the US

Never. Not what you want to hear,but hear me out. Because if it safes your sanity it is worth it.

• I got my apprenticeship as a paramedic first and then went back to school to get my full A-Levels. Specialized school we have here,thankfully for these cases. The oldest one of my classmates was 52.

• I studied economics with someone who was 55 and basically had already done the job we all wanted when we graduate for 25 years. He did so so he finally would get a more comprehensive background and maybe get up the ladder once more. (Which according to linked in he did)

• I currently do another master (in a distant education setting,though) simply out of interest in the field and to broaden my CV. And you know what? I am 25 years in my field and still learned a fuckton of things, got a better network, love the research field AND got so much better at my job AND found a lot of opportunities.

• An former paramedic trainee of mine was almost 50 when he started paramedic training. He was a C level executive before and at one point had enough - he changed careers so he would not get even more depressed and is now very happy with it. And I had multiple people do that in my bubble.

Now,from my current perspective: Was it stressful? Fuck yeah. I literally cried sometimes. Was it a tough time financially? Fuck yeah. I am self employed/have a small company and I had month were making ends meet was really though due to the added expenses and the lost revenue. But it still was worth it. Because: For what it’s worth we all gonna need to work till 70+x anyway to afford retirement. And that’s a long time.

It depends on if you’re going back to school for career reasons or personal enrichment. For the latter it really is never too late. For your career, though, too late will depend on when you’re hoping to retire, when you’ll complete the extra schooling, how much the school will cost, and how much more money you’ll expect to make with your new degree.

Without any info, assuming you want to retire around 65, I would think it would be normal to want to use your new degree for at least ten years, so whatever schooling you’d want to do you would want to be finishing by the time you’re 55. But those other variables come into play. If you’re borrowing $100,000 to pay for med school, your cutoff date will probably be earlier because it will take a longer time to pay off the student loans. On the flip side, if you’re paying $5-10,000 for a 6-month programming boot camp that will boost your income by $10-20,000/year then you might even consider doing that at age 60, especially if you’re already bringing a computer science background where your experience and new skills will keep you in high demand.

There’s not really a one-size-fits-all answer to this question.

It is never too late to go back is not bullshit.

people have jobs, debts and rent to pay.

I had all of the above and a family to support and I went back to school and got my masters degree.

My wife got her masters degree last year, at age 58.

It depends upon the job you are pursuing. I went back to school at 35 to pursue a trade in HVAC. I don’t recommend doing that much later. I ran into a lot of age discrimination when attempting to find a job.

The only time going to school isn’t worth it is if you’re already burnt out in your job, genuinely have no time to do it, and make so much money that adding university classes on top of that isn’t worth the effort or time investment. Having said that, if you need the degree to increase your earning potential, even in your 30s or 40s or whatever, then it’s worthwhile despite all the challenges. My mom got her degree in her 30s and massively increased her earning potential and that has paid off over the decades, and I’m currently getting my degree in my 30s to increase my earning potential as well.

There are remote school options where you don’t need to attend classes so those are much easier to fit into your schedule, and much cheaper, places like Western Governors University.

I graduated as a kid with 2 retirees in my psych classes who told me getting their degree was one of the most important, rewarding things they had ever done.

Also, nowadays you can travel abroad in dozens of countries, take English-language courses and get accredited degrees in every field for very affordable tuition fees, as in 90% cheaper than the US.

While you’re attending those schools, your cost of living will be dramatically lowered as well.

If anyone wants details, talk to me here or in Travel.