Why not a residential doctorate?

I have been thinking. If I go for my DBA at Nova I will have about $50k+ tuition (and rising), $12,000+ in travel (from the west coast), books, etc, etc. I could easily approach $70-$80k in expenses (namely student loans for me) by the time I finish. Probably land a teaching job for $70k or so (accounting) at a lower tier college.

Or, I could move across the state and attend a traditional PhD. Free tuition and expenses and a $25k per year stipend. Take out a student loan for other necessary living expenses (wife still works). Walk into a nice $100k per year (accounting) research position at an AACSB school.

Maybe I just need to aline things right (sell BMW, house, etc), wait for the right time, and then go for it. The ROI I think would pencil out better in the second option.

Any thoughts?

 

One key question - what salary will you lose by going traditional B&M?

The Nova route does allow you to keep your current job.

Regards - Andy

 

The second scenario makes more sense but this taking into consideration that you will land a teaching job which is very likely for accounting. In my case (MIS), I have seen many graduates from traditional programs that after all the work end having to work in industry due to the lack of teaching opportunities. It would be very sad to do a 4 year full time program to end where you started.

 

This is the real key...the opportunity cost of forgoing your present salary could be huge. I have never seen a doctoral stipend of $25 per year like you mention. I've looked at many residential programs and it looks like the average is between $15-$20k. Keep in mind how long it takes to complete a traditional Ph.D. (on average). Do you want to live on a stipend for 5-6 years? Just something to think about.

 

Not a problem with accounting. I would have NO problem having multiple offers. There is a severe shortage of accounting professors and it will be worse by the time I graduate.

 

No problem here. I make $62,000 but have much higher expenses than I would in residence. I expect I would come out with the same debt load. The salary of $100k I listed is actually on the low side for accounting. Reality is I could double my salary coming out. Accounting professors are typically the highest paid in any department, even new hires. See my above post about the demand and forecasted demand for accounting professors.

 

When I start in a couple years it should be closer to $25k than $15k, especially in accounting. I will look for a program that gives me a little credit for my masters, if possible. Besides, the length of time to complete a PhD differs wildly between the subjects, with accounting much quicker than some of fields.

 

More information on the accounting shortage here: http://forums.degreeinfo.com/showthread.php?t=26978&highlight=accounting+shortage

 

I'm a MIS DBA, what would be the requirements to teach Accounting Information Systems in your opinion?

 

Just throwing in my two cents here. I too would love to complete a ph.d program at my residential university. But the problem I face is that there are a lack of programs that really interest me and the ones that do are all tailored for "traditional students". It's my opinion that ph.d programs are designed for full time students who can afford not to work full time.

 

It's not a stretch for a MIS DBA to teach AIS. There are two things you would probably need to do to be considered qualified to teach AIS. For coursework, three courses should do the trick, intermediate financial accouting, managerial/cost accounting and auditing at the graduate level. An additional IT auditing course would be preferred. Second, publications in AIS or IT auditing are strongly preferred. A third thing you could do that would help woud be to obtain the CISA certification.You may want to look at the model curriculum on the Information Systems Auditing and Control Association website:

http://www.isaca.org/Template.cfm?Section=Model_Curriculum&Template=/TaggedPage/TaggedPageDisplay.cfm&TPLID=41&ContentID=33103

 

What foobar said may work, I don't know. To split hairs, intermediate accounting is 2 courses not 1. At that point, you may as well finish of with a MAcc.

Keep in mind that there is generally only one AIS class in most programs, versus several tax, financial accounting, etc. Most professors in these classes are PhDs in Accounting and they teach other courses. An Accounting IS course is heavy in the accounting and light in the IS side of things, so the accounting guys can handle these easily.

 

Or, I could move across the state and attend a traditional PhD. Free tuition and expenses and a $25k per year stipend. Take out a student loan for other necessary living expenses (wife still works). Walk into a nice $100k per year (accounting) research position at an AACSB school.
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In a traditional PhD, why would there be free tuition? Sorry- I don't understand the process yet. Thanks.

 

Here is a sample financial aid package for a traditional doctoral student student. http://bschool.washington.edu/phd/finaid.shtml

 

Great advice,

Thanks