Some observations regarding the value of distance online doctoral degrees

The current job market is flooded with individuals with doctorates in business, psychology and education, three specializations that are offered by the major distance learning universities. With competition for jobs in these areas being quite fierce, generally it appears that those with doctorates from traditional schools hold a distinct advantage over those with doctorates from online schools. In addition, it seems that online doctorates generally offer those who are currently employed and seeking promotions greater benefit than individuals who wish to use the doctorate to obtain a new position or career. As an example, the field of Psychology is inundated with doctorates and competition for employment is very tight. Salaries in this profession are not high while competion for private practice clients is very strong.

Although several posters have indicated their positive experiences in their online doctoral programs it will be interesting to learn how viable these degrees will be in our job market where lay offs and career derailment is a common phenomenon of life. At this point in time it appears that the real winners are the for-profit proprietary online universities that are making enormous profits due to the appeal of these online degree programs, regardless of whether or not these advanced degrees enhance the careers of their students.

 

I am a student at Fielding Graduate University getting a Ph.D. in clinical psychology. For someone like me, the increase in salary I can get going from my current (miserable) master's degree level salary to a Ph.D. level salary makes financial sense. In my region of the country the need for mental health services is so acute that I don't worry about getting clients should I do a private practice. Typically most person's getting a Ph.D. via this route are already in a professional position and are very well aware of the situation in our areas of professional practice.

I would bring to a potential employer 15 years of very varied professional experience: I've worked at the VA, I have research and publication experience, I've worked with children and adolescents, I have years of specialized crisis intervention experience, I have years of neuropsychological and psychological testing experience. I have extensive experience in doing utilization review and concurrent reviews and I am adept at dealing with third party payors from the business end of things etc.... The fact that my Ph.D. will be via distance learning probably won't influence me negatively given all the things I have done professionally. After receiving my Ph.D. I will have very different CV than a younger person from a traditional program.

Also ... how many people get a doctoral degree while working full time professionally? That in and of itself says volumes to a potential employer about one's motivation, organizational skills, ability to budget time and prioritize. I nabbed a consulting job last year precisely because I was a DL student.

The main reasons for me are getting a Ph.D. and being able to call myself a clinical psychologist is to grow professionally and do what I do best. That has been a goal for 20 years. If I don't make the attempt then I will live with regret for the rest of my life. I refuse to live with that kind of regret forever.

Thus far my experience with Fielding has been a wonderful enriching and fulfillling experience. I am growing intellectually. The learning model means that I am getting the chance to explore topics and issues that students in traditional programs would usually never get a chance to delve into too deeply. Currently I am exploring the literature on mindfulness meditation as an adjunctive therapy. This learning model fits me perfectly. I probably could not function well in a traditional doctoral program. A mid-life and mid-career learner is at a whole different phase of life and has entirely different developmental needs than a younger student. It has been worth every penny!

However, I have to agree that some of the professional schools are churning out people with less than ideal skills.

 

Like any new product, you have a life cycle. Online doctorates are new and since the "Dr" title is appealing and "prestigious", people are going for it as it seems that the faster you can get one the faster you might be able to use it.

Once the market is flooded and half of the population are "Dr"s, they will start loosing value to the point that I forecast that many of the online universities will go to bankrupt once the "doctorate" fashion vanishes.

This has happened already even with B&M schools in some countries. In Asia (Korea, China), the market is flooded with PhDs to the point that a TESL teacher makes more money than a PhD, I have a friend that took a Job as a TESL teacher in Asia as his PhD was hard to sell.

Although MBAs are also a dime a dozen, at least an MBA is easy to sell as you can use for any company. On the other hand, the PhD is mainly usable for adjunct teaching and full time tenure track positions so the market can be saturated a lot faster than the one for MBAs.

Licenses that are hard to get as CFA, will always be valuable as only few can get it with hard work. If one really wants a value for their work, the best is to get a license where there is more control and with less competition than a PhD.

 

The fact that you are attending a distance learning Psychology program at Fielding, a school with an excellent reputation, is a major plus for your future employment prospect. Unfortunately as you noted a number of free standing doctoral programs especially those offering Psy.Ds have lowered admission standards to such a degree that many applicants with very questionable academic credentials are being admitted and being allowed to graduate. A number of these students do not possess doctoral level intellectual and research competencies commensurate with their peers from such schools as Fielding. It is really unfortunate because the Psychology profession (Clinical) was considered a very prestigious field in the 1960s through the eighties only admitting a few of the intellectual cream of the crop. However in recent years it has lost its exulted status due to its over emphasis on socio-political issues and inclusive admission policies rather than a focus on furthering the intellectual study of Psychology and the production of relevant research that can be utilized by society.