Question: Assume today is June 1, 2009. Natasha Kingery is 30 years old and has a Bachelor of Science degree in computer science. She is currently employed as a Tier 2 field servicerepresentative for a telephony corporation located in Seattle, Washington, and earns, $38,000 ayear that she anticipates will grow at 3% per year. Natasha hopes to retire at age 65 and has just begun to think about the future. Natasha has $75,000 that she recently inherited from her aunt. She invested this moneyin 10-year Treasury Bonds. She is considering whether she should further her education andwould use her inheritance to pay for it. She has investigated a couple of options and is asking for your help as a financial planning intern to determine the financial consequences associated with each option. Natashahas already been accepted to both of these programs and could start either one soon.One alternative that Natasha is considering is attaining a certification in network design. This certification would automatically promote her to a Tier 3 field service representative in her company. The base salary for a Tier 3 representative is $10,000 more than what she currentlyearns and she anticipates that this salary differential will grow at a rate of 3% a year as long asshe keeps working.

The certification program requires the completion of 20 Web-based coursesand a score of 80% or better on an exam at the end of the course work. She has learned that theaverage amount of time necessary to finish the program is one year. The total cost of the program is $5,000, due when she enrolls in the program. Because she will do all the work for thecertification on her own time, Natasha does not expect to lose any income during thecertification. Another option is going back to school for an MBA degree. With an MBA degree, Natasha expects to be promoted to a managerial position in her current firm. The managerial position pays $20,000 a year more than her current position. She expects that this salarydifferential will also grow at a rate of 3% per year for as long as she keeps working. Theevening program, which will take three years to complete, costs $25,000 per year, due at the beginning of each of her three years in school. Because she will attend classes in the evening, Natasha doesn't expect to lose any income while she is earning her MBA if she chooses toundertake the MBA.

1) Determine the interest rate she is currently earning on her inheritance by going to YahooFinance and clicking on the 10-year bond link in the market summary. Then go to "Historical Prices" and enter the appropriate date, June 1. 2009, toobtain the closing yield or interest rate that she is earning. Use this interest rate as the discount rate for the remainder of this problem.

2) Create a timeline in Excel for her current situation as well as the certification program and MBA degree options using the following assumptions:

• Salaries for the year are paid only once, at the end of the year

• The Salary increase becomes effective immediately upon graduating from the MBA program or being certified. That is, because the increases become effective immediately but salaries are paid at the end of the year, the first salary increase will be paid exactlyone year after graduation or certification.

3) Calculate the present value of the salary differential for completing the certification program. Subtract the cost of the program to get the NPV of undertaking the certification program.

4) Calculate the present value of the salary differential for completing the MBA degree.Calculate the present value of the cost of the MBA program. Based on your calculations, determine the NPV of undertaking the MBA

5) Based on your answer to question 3 and 4 what advice would you give to Natasha? What if the two programs are mutally exclusive? That is, if Natasha undertakes one of the programs there is no futher benefit to understanding the other program. Would your advice be different?