Because some part of you knows your life would suck if you did anything else?
I don't know what your decision-making factors are in total, and if monetary return on investment is important to you, then perhaps it is good you are spending a lot of time introspecting about this.
For me, I'm on the flip side of this decision. I made the "good return on investment" decision and became an accountant the first time around. 40 hours a week at a job you find little sense of value or self-expression in can be life-sucking. After work and maybe adding in family obligations, there's not much time to "help people". Sure, you can volunteer, but will you be satisfied giving the few pennies you have leftover from you workweek dollar to charity?
Now, maybe you could find a career that allowed you to help people and still make a bit more? I think we spoke in the past about a joint MSW/JD degree. Is that something you're considering? I mean if you do law that is geared toward those in need, you still probably wouldn't make big bucks, but maybe you'd make a bit more than you otherwise would.
In the end, I think the decision-making perspective has to be widened out a bit further than just cost of degree vs. take-home pay. Work is one of the biggest places you put in your time. It won't matter how much you're making if you're spending all your miserable time in a cubicle making it and you're too depressed and tired to spend any of it.
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