Next year I'm thinking about starting a part-time master's degree between deployments. Currently considering either a pure engineering field (mechanical or aerospace), or a continuation of my bachelor's degree, Systems Engineering. If I go aero or mech I'd have to do some undergraduate pre-reqs like thermo and fluids. I'd be attending Old Dominion University, and if I apply for Virginia residency tuition would cost $487/hr, for a minimum of 30 hours of credit.

Are any of you pursuing/have a master's degree? Career goals are somewhere in the defense industry or other large technology firms. Engineering at JPL or NASA would be my dream job.

That's pretty expensive. I wouldn't know which one to go for. Sounds like a very personal decision, although I imagine that the pure engineering ones might be better for you to get that dream job.

I have two Master's degrees myself. One in Criminal / International & European law, and then an LLM in IT & IP law. They were definitely worth it for me, although I didn't have to pay as much. The 6 years of higher education were tiring though.

Damn, I totally forgot about your degrees. You're likely the most educated user here; thanks for the input. As for cost, I intend to apply for military tuition assistance, but I don't mind taking on $15-20K debt. What are your thoughts about going back to school after a few years of unrelated work experience? My concern with those engineering degrees (and I was even considering a physics degree) is that I'll be so out of practice with the math that I'll be at a big disadvantage from the beginning.