Spending $5,000 can get you up to speed in various disciplines that are vital to your career.
Work in finance and want to upgrade to being a chartered financial analyst? It'll set you back $2,190 for the curriculum and exams in 2008, but you may have to take the exams more than once: The failure rate is 80 percent.
New clients in Europe? You can take a seven-week course in any of five Romance languages at Middlebury College for $6,136.