I pursued a role an Academics and ended up with an offer (yippee)! However, I’m stuck. I’ve got a current corporate job making 78K + 10% bonus, 3K stocks and a baseline of 3% raise every year at least. The offer will be at $60K (obviously with no bonuses, etc.).

Going into academics is a definite interest of mine, but I’m not sure if I’m ready. I’m currently 25, saving for a house with my SO and the thought of cutting $20K is pretty intense for me.

I’ve been doing quite well in my role (managing an Associate without a manager for 8 months), while running three programs across the country. The programs are rapidly expanding and I’m even participating in leadership forums with my senior team.

I received a 3.5% raise and a 115% bonus (baseline is 100%) in February as a result for stepping up with no manager, managing a new employee, and adding more responsibilities to my plate. I’ve been praised by multiple groups including my Directors and SVPs in different departments that I work with and know that I’m valued. I have really strong relationships with my partners at work. Given all of this, I think I could bring this to the table and seek for a higher raise, but I’m not sure if they will raise my salary again so soon.

Some of my partners that know I have been looking and have been incredibly supportive, some even stating that they do not want to lose me. I am also certain if I ask for a higher raise and inform them I have an offer on the table, they won’t replace me - I have been considered vital to the success and growth of the programs and have been actually told by a mentor at the company that it may be difficult to move teams given my performance and responsibilities in my current role.

Some other things to note: As of this week, we have a new manager (internal partner I’ve worked with before), which will relieve a bit of pressure from my workload. My associate is considered a low-performer and is in danger of being placed on a PIP. As such, I know they will not and do not trust her to inherit and run the programs by herself if I leave. And the manager is too new to really fully understand all of our programs, but has been at the company for awhile.

Of course, once they hear it’s a role in academics, they’ll know the role is a significant pay cut. I’ll be pursuing an MBA ($35K/yr) which will be covered by the school, so that will definitely be where the value and trade-off lies if I pursue it. I know I will add pressure, but again, I’m not sure if they would quickly adjust my compensation.

Just some thoughts outlined (sorry typed it on mobile and if I missed some glaring details let me know). But looking to see if going back to my team to ask for a raise would be a good idea...