Friends and family questioned why a 50-year-old successful business owner would go back to school to get an online MBA.

“I wasn’t looking for a promotion and I wasn’t going to fire myself, but today if you don’t get a graduate degree you’re at a disadvantage. I did not want to miss out on an opportunity to grow,” said Jason Thompson, who runs American Property Experts, one of North Carolina’s largest recycling companies. “A lot of people at this age think it is too late to get an advanced degree because they are too established in their careers. But there’s so much value in this next step in education.”