Why do I have to enter the degree costs myself?

Because we have no verified source for degree costs or degree salary outcomes, and this page will not print a figure it cannot attribute. Your programme has a real price and you know it. That number is better than one we would have to invent.

Is this saying degrees are not worth it?

No. Plenty of employers still screen for a degree and it opens doors a certification does not. This is a narrower question: how long does each thing take to pay back what it costs?

Which figure here is not mine?

One: the reported salary premium for the certification you pick. It carries its own named, dated source on screen. Everything else on the page is a number you entered.

Certification or Degree? Payback Comparison | McQuizzy

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Certification or degree, on your numbers

Which one pays for itself first? Put in what each will actually cost you. We supply exactly one figure you did not, and we name its source.

What you earn now

The certification

Which one

What it will cost you

Exam plus any training. Check the current fee on the Amazon Web Services page.

Reported premium over non-certified peers: 20%

Source: Global Knowledge, Robert Half, Payscale 2024

The degree

Your programme, your numbers. We publish nothing about degrees because we have no source we would stand behind.

Total cost to you

What you expect to earn after it

Your own estimates. Not a McQuizzy figure.

Time to pay for itself

1 mo

AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner, on your $500

Source: Your cost and salary figures, and Global Knowledge, Robert Half, Payscale 2024 for the premium

2.0 yr

The degree, on your $40,000

Your own estimates

Certification, per year

+$11,000

Source: Your salary, and Global Knowledge, Robert Half, Payscale 2024 for the premium

Degree, per year

+$20,000

Your own estimate

This is not an argument that degrees do not matter. Plenty of employers still screen for one, and a degree opens doors a certification does not. It is a like-for-like question about how long each thing takes to pay back what it costs, using the only degree numbers we trust: yours.

Keep this

Want the comparison in writing?

Both payback figures, the numbers you entered, the reported premium with its source, and a note on exactly which parts of it are estimates. Useful if you are making this case to someone else.

Practise AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner free

Where these numbers come from

The degree side is entirely yours: your programme, your tuition, your expectation of what you will earn afterwards. McQuizzy publishes nothing about degrees because there is no source here we would stand behind, and inventing one on a page about a five-figure decision is not acceptable.

The certification side uses one figure we did not invent, the reported salary premium over non-certified peers, printed beside its own named and dated attribution. Its cost is yours too, because vendors no longer publish one US exam price.

Six unsourced figures were deleted from the previous version of this page: hard-coded degree cost and time ranges, hard-coded certification cost and time ranges, and a claimed salary boost for each path.

Keep going

What does this certification pay?

The reported average, the full range and every job it leads to.

Is it worth what it costs?

Your money against the reported salary premium.

Which certification should I start with?

Five questions, one certification, and the order after it.

What is between me and the job?

Pick the role, see exactly which certifications you are missing.

Knowing the number is not the same as passing the exam

McQuizzy is exam practice for the certification you just picked: real exam-style questions, a study plan built around what you keep getting wrong, and interview prep for after you pass.

Find your certification