Stomaching DBA expenses

Hello all-

I got my admissions offer last week from Henley for the MSc/DBA progam, and I'm in the interview stages at Grenoble. It's been fun going through the process, and it feels really great to get in. Some conversations with people from this board have been informative throughout.

I've been doing some work on the logistics and financing to get to a go/no-go decision. Wondering if anyone has any creative funding ideas to deal with the $80k or so this degree would take. (I'm not really interested in looking outside these programs, for the record, since I want AACSB and appropriate rigor- I did lots of research before narrowing it down). I'm looking at loans, which aren't so bad if there's a longer pay down period of 10-15-20 years. But I'm wondering what else is out there. I know things can get complicated since it's a doctoral degree, it's outside the US, and it's part time. I also can't count on my employer to pay for any of it, either- it would only be $3k max anyway, and you never know when the next opportunity might come up, so I don't want that dependence hanging over me.

Any thoughts? How have others made it happen?

Thanks

 

No suggestions - I used tuition assistance (no loans) and my PhD cost me about $3K out of pocket. Best of luck and I am sure the degree will serve you well.

 

I got admission at Grenoble but did not enroll because of the cost. I am not sure Grenoble DBA will land someone in Tier2/Tier3 business school teaching full-time. Getting an AACSB DBA to adjunct did not justify the cost and effort it takes.
Henley DBA is much more expensive compared to Grenoble. For the cost, i would look at the new AACSB DBA's (Rollins college etc)that are being offered in USA.

 

A member of degreeinfo (Han as I recall) earned a Grenoble degree then was hired by a university in S. California.

 

Getting a full time teaching job requires more than the DBA. The DBA from Grenoble is just a check mark. Factors that will increase your chances include teaching experience, work experience, publications, field of study and certifications.

If you really want to get a teaching job, you should be able to find something with this DBA. There is always risk as with anything in life but you can low the risk by getting certifications in demand such as PMP, CFA or CPA and choosing a field in demand such as accounting or finance.

The 80K is not so bad if you take into consideration that some accounting teaching positions start at 150K. Of course you can decide to do a general management degree and take a chance that you might not even get adjunct work but it is up to the student to do the right planning to succeed.

 

There were times when some Universities used to pay the student loans upon hiring. A friend of mine that finished his DBA from Boston College got his employer to pay for his loan.

I assume that this kind of things still happen but I assume that you should be in demand for the employer to be willing to pay for this. I recommend you to study a field in demand such as finance or accounting in order to maximize your chances that an employer might be willing to pay for this loan.

 

Thanks all for the responses.

@nmesproject- I get the same feeling about Grenoble, too. It seems like Henley has better placement both in academia and in industry, as well as more publishing. If you're going to spend that much money anyway, what's an extra 10 grand or so, right? I am also drawn to the triple accreditation and international exposure (though still anglophone and perhaps more comfortable to prospective employers). Rollins can't really provide that, I'm not terribly interested in being in the very first class, seems like a risk to me. With the travel and tuition involved there, I wouldn't be saving much money, either.

@rfvalve- I agree about the job situation and making things happen. It's one of the reasons these executive-type degrees are appealing to me- I can keep working and building my professional experience while I also pursue more academic experience. I figure if anything, I'll still have my original career track to lean on when I'm done rather than needing to find an academic or higher-level industry job right away. Hopefully being over $100k for a 9-month appointment before too long is quite appealing, though.

 

I think the DBA from a good school can be marketed in the industry if you specialize in a technical field such as Finance. People with good MBAs make more than 100K in finance so people with good DBAs should be able to reach high levels too.

In general, a DBA from a good school is a good investment. I think the ROI is questionable if the DBA is from a non AACSB accredited school with little reputation.
Specialization is also critical, most people with general DBAs have a hard time finding their niche.

 

Right, if it were that certain an outcome, the risk on the investment would be low and there wouldn't be much for me to mull over- my deposit would already be sent.

I know there are many who have gone the tenure track route after pursuing the Henley DBA, but I don't want to go too far to presume that I'll have the same opportunity. It just becomes part of the calculus for cost/benefit/risk analysis.

 

I think the key here is to be willing to move. I know few PhDs from good schools that were not able to do much with the degree but also were never willing to move. If you check job sites, there are plenty of opportunities in the world but one has to be willing to move and sometimes this means to another country.

A PhD is not the same as a BS. There are plenty of jobs requiring a BS but only a handful of jobs requiring a PhD.
The OP has to take into consideration than this DBA would only be useful if he or she is willing to go where the opportunities are available. There are hundreds of unfilled positions in the US that keep advertising and don't seem to get enough applicants.

 

I think it is pretty safe to say that a Henley DBA would lead to a tenure track.

Henley is ranked 44 in the FT:

Business school rankings from the Financial Times - Executive Education - Customised - 2013

This is above Rotman, McGill and other top Canadian Business Schools.

I think the risk is not so much that you would not be able to land a tenure track but that you actually are offered admission and you get to finish it.
One think is to want to do a DBA from Henley and another is to be able to finish it.

 

80,000 over 5 years, so approx $16k per year? That works out to $1333 per month... which is a nice house payment. But doable / assuming you have little to no personal debt and a good paying job currently.

If you have two car payments at $4-600+ per month, sell them and buy a couple used Hondas with 200k on the odometer for $2500 each.

Basically, cash is king. Being an overseas school, the normal "student loan" process will not work, so you are looking at borrowing the money as unsecured loans (credit cards, maybe line of credit on home if those exist anymore)

If you are not ready to pay out $1500 per month in cash outflow, because of debt, etc. then you may have to take a year or two to clean up your personal budget until you can. (Add second job, third job, look at Dave Ramsey style of debt reduction)

Credit cards will be SHORT TERM cash solutions, but 80k on credit cards will be daunting at best. Paying as you go is a good solution, just will be cash poor for a pretty long time. Hopefully the spouse/partner is fully on board!

Best of luck!

 

Yes, it averages out to about $15k per year. The $80k or so wouldn't come out all at once, though. And I'm not 100% sure that an overseas school rules student loans out. I'm trying to find out all of my options.

Based on my calculations, with a 15 year loan period, it would start out at roughly $120/month and ramp up to around $550/month over 5 years. More digestible that way, but still not a small amount of money every month. Our personal finances are fine, and could realistically (if not comfortably) handle the debt load (coincidentally, our house payment will be almost exactly $1333/mo). Of course, after completion I'd hope for a salary boost which would help offset these expenses. That factors into my NPV evaluations for go/no-go.

I'd never look to use credit card debt for this sort of thing.

 

I know my wife would not be happy with a decision of this type unless I am in a very comfortable financial situation.

I think you should look for local options first. I was really upset when I found out that two of my local universities offered part time PhDs in flexible format that could have fit my needs. I was too focused on the PhD in Business Admin that neglected to see PhD in Interdisciplinary studies and Individualized programs.

It might be a lot cheaper and easier to find a local school that can offer something that you need.

I believe is better to have a PhD in Economics from a local school than a DBA in Finance from a foreign school that is going to bankrupt you. It is also a lot easier to explain.
I have a DBA from an Australian School that had to explain in every job interview. Some people bought my argument and some never called me back, the foreign degree in distance format can be hard to sell if you have better schools in you local city, many employers might think that you went this route as a shortcut for a doctorate or because you were not able to pass the GMAT and will not agree with it. It might not happen to you but it is a risk that you are taking and for 80K plus finance cost this risk should be taken into consideration.

 

My wife and I have no debt (paid off our condo in 6 years and paid cash for our cars) and we make a really comfortable living but I would never take on $80K in debt from a foreign school. Go with a DBA from Kennesaw which is AACBS - DBA Program | Doctor of Business Administration | Kennesaw State University Coles College of Business for $90K if you want to spend that much.

 

I feel pretty strongly about AACSB and the degree being relevant to my area of interest (broadly marketing or management, more specifically product management- econ doesn't really help me there). If I were to undertake all of that work, wherever it was, I'd want the option to go tenure track in B-school. I'm taking an all-or-nothing sort of approach, for better or worse. There aren't any good doctoral options near me, full time or part time, unfortunately. It is my hope that Henley's reputation, FT rankings, and scholarly output would help to offset some of the risks of going overseas DL/executive-style.

I realize I'm looking to have my cake and eat it, too: I want a quality doctoral experience, I want it to be AACSB, I don't want to give up working (more specifically >50% of my salary) or move to go onto a PhD stipend, I want to finance the degree to spread out the cash impact; at the same time I don't want it to be financially crippling in the years before (hopefully) going into tenure track academia (the goal being once I'm there, the higher salary will offset the up to $6k a year in loan repayment). I'm trying to distill all of these risks and factors into a go/no-go decision.

This will definitely be a family decision between me and the wife, which is why I'm doing some fact-finding in regards to financing options, as well as evaluating my goals in relation to the costs of the program.

I'm wondering if the FT rankings and triple accreditation mean anything for Henley? I just don't know if it makes any difference to spend $90k for a different school that nobody has heard of, even though it is stateside.

And yes, I would be incurring debt, but I would also be doing it in the hopes of getting a significant boost to salary and a career change upon completion.

 

You make good points. When I considered a foreign degree, I was interested in the Henley program mainly because its reputation and good track of placement for full time tenure track faculty.

If you made your mind, go for it.

 

Oh if only my mind were made up! I have a hard time making decisions sometimes. Drives my wife nuts. In any case it's hard not to be hesitant about such a hefty investment/expense. Thank you all for indulging my waffling :smile: