ED Doctorate at Fielding Inst. vs. bricks/mortar distance school

Hi,

I'm looking to do an Ed doctorate in a distance/limited residency program. Decided I prefer US based schools. Amongst the 4 US distance schools that seem best, Fielding, Capella, Walden and Union, Walden and Union ask you to come in with a pretty well established research plan, maybe I want a bit more structure. Capella offers courses but they have only been around for 7 years. Fielding has been around longer, since early 70s, I believe.

Am I right in thinking that Fielding might be generally better known and hence have more prestige value than Capella?

Anyway in this category of school, I am leaning towards Fielding. Talking to the admissions people there, they seem commited to getting you finished in 3 years which will keep the price to about 40,000. Does anyone have any personal experience with this school? Can anyone speak about the quality of education there? I know it is RA but so is U o Phoenix, right?

The other side of the coin is a more traditional school that has a distance program. Limited residency during the summer and winter months is possible for me, so one program I am looking at is at the U of Nebraska - Lincoln. Talking to the folks there they say 3 years is possible but 4-5 is much more likely. Also, they say that they have a 50-60 % completion rate Those figures worry me a little bit, but I feel that the prestige value of a doctorate from a school like this makes it far more desirable than Fielding or the others. Living abroad I have been warned that the phoney degree problem makes people very wary of non-traditional schools, and the RA non-RA distinction much discussed on these boards is unknown by many here. Personally, I don't want my degree scoffed at, but there might be advantages to Fielding in that you are able to design your courses to meet your own interests rather than plodding through required core coursework...hmm...decisions decisions.... Anyone have personal experience with UNL Lincoln?

Thanks!

 

You may want to consider Argosy University who is Regionally Accredited and offers Ed.D.

Tom

 

I don't know what your particular relgious background is but I throw this one out anyway.

Oral Roberts University (second tier US NEWS) has several different low residency Ed.D. options. One is the Ed.D. in Educational Leadership (geared to meet requirements in OK for the superintendent certification). It can be done with a secular emphasis as opposed to religious. They also have some specifically Christian ones (eg Christian Higher Education Administration).

I believe ORU's education department enjoys a fairly good reputation. From what I remember their education graduates are top in the state in the certification exams.

They offer short modules during the year, on-line, and two week summer sessions.

http://www.oru.edu

North

 

Yes, go with University of Nebraska... some may not like ORUs religious bent, some may not like Argosy's for-profit status, some may not like the non-traditional lot...

UoN is a good, safe, bet!