The 20 grad school programs where students go on to earn the most money

There are a lot of opinions out there about whether graduate school is worth the time and money. But some occupations require an advanced degree, leaving you without much of a choice.

Whether you're pursuing a master's or doctoral degree (or anything more than a bachelor's) because you want to or because you have to, it doesn't hurt to know which programs can offer the biggest return on your investment.

To find the the schools where grad students go on to earn the most money in their careers, we looked at PayScale's recent College Salary Report.

PayScale, the creator of the world's largest compensation database, looked at the starting (5 years of experience or less) and mid-career (10-plus years of job experience) pay for over a million college grads - including professionals who graduated with an advanced degree from 393 universities.

Its College Salary Report, which was compiled using data from employees who successfully completed PayScale's employee survey, sorts the results by school, major, and degree.

Alumni of these graduate programs go on to earn the most money 10-plus years into their career, according to PayScale: