I read this story well over twenty years ago, so I really don't remember too many details. I am 99% sure it was in an issue of F&SF Magazine, from the 50's I think. Moreover, I think it was the story related to the cover art.
The cover art for the issue depicted a scruffy looking bearded man with a black fedora looking to the side in fear. I think he had a couple of paper scrolls in his hands. He was at the bottom of the cover and you could only see his torso and above. I know he was set against a dark object of some sort (a judges bench?) and the overall background was yellow.
I don't remember much about the story, just that the narrator was bitter because you needed three PhDs in order to get ahead while he only had a couple of Masters and thus couldn't find a job. Because of that, he winds up taking some kind of shifty job doing something illegal. That's all I remember.
Edit: I've now checked every F&SF cover from the beginning through 1979 and I'm not seeing it. I thought it was F&SF but it might have been Analog or something else- like I said, it has been over twenty years. That said I would suspect that it was late 60's through the 70's on further reflection; stories from the 50's didn't have such a pessimistic and dour look at things usually (please don't fill the comments sections with arguments, I said usually) as opposed to how I remember this. Will look more later.