compensatin - outside comitttee member

What would an outside PhD dissertation comittee member that's not a mentor at the learner's school expect as reasonable compensation?

I have a need that is likely not going to be met at my school, thus have been advised to seek outside phd's to fill the bill. This is a sustained effort over a year or so, so what would one need to budget?

Thanks all.

 

Excelsior pays me $100 to serve as an second or third reader for their MA in LS (I regularly teach in their program).

Thesis quality determines the hourly rate.

 

second reader

thanks - I'd be doing a quantitative finance dissertation and in all likleyhood, applying some basic time-series economietric models, etc. I'd need help throughout the entire process - proposal development to defense. It's hard to imagine this not running into a couple grand over a year's time, but that's why I'm trying to find out. NCU (and all schools I suspect) does have a policy for those currently on their faculty, with respect to what a learner may expect. But, I'm seeking a totally outside person, so we'll see. Thanks for your input.

 

Re: second reader

It sounds like you want someone who will give you lots of their time, almost like a personal trainer. I think you might not need as much time from them as you think. The lit review will be on your own, as will the rest of the dissertation . You will probably just need them to read your proposal and dissertation, give you some general direction, and the rest is you. I doubt it should cost that much, but that will depend a bit on who you find. (Like asking Alan Greenspan vs. John Q. Professor)

I'm curious to know who you find and how much they charge. Probably someone from NCU could give you advice as well.

 

endowave,

I'm still trying to calibrate to the distance learning model. I figure that you're in a B & M program, so you know it's a mentorship model. I can't even imagine developing a thesis, appropirate model and data without a great deal of input up front. I'm going to have to adjust my thinking I guess to the DL model, because a B & M progam would require hundreds of hours of direct contact with the dissertation chair.

Not being negative, just making adjustments. ...

 

I see what you are saying, but that just doesn't happen in a B & M program. I can count on one hand how many "direct contact hours" I've had with my dissertation chair, and I've been here a year and a half already. Faculty is much too busy doing their own thing.

Usually what happens is, you sit down and talk initially about what you want to do. You write a proposal, they read it and gives some comments.

You start your lit review, they read it.

You take your qualifying exam. Hopefully pass.

You start your research, you might get a little guidance here, maybe 30 minutes to an hours worth.

You write your dissertation. There is a template in Word you fill out. They read it, you defend, you are done.

The majority of the "contact hours" where they actually help you comes from them reading your thesis, something that you don't need to be there in person for.

This idea of hundreds of contact hours is a myth. You might be slaving for hundreds of hours for your professor, teaching classes, grading papers, office work, etc, but there is no learning going on with that, no exchange of ideas. In fact, the less contact hours you get, often the better. I've seen other students who constantly are being told to change something in their dissertation and wind up spending another year or two than they have to.

When I see my chair walking down the hall, I run the other way, because they usually ask me to do something that will waste a lot of my time.

If you need actual help with the writing of the dissertation or researching, you usually just take a class on how to do that, or consult some how-to guides.