Where's the best quality education per dollar spent for a doctorate?

I would welcome any DL's who can share any experiences.

Thanks in advance!

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Maherman

 

An RA school that offers a program that meets your goals. Once you've selected several schools that have a program in your discipline then you must weigh the format and convenience of the DL program with the cost.

John

 

What do you value ?

What do you want ?

You can spend $29.00 to over $150,000 - both could be a value,
the $29.00 one you can hang in your home office, the 150,000 one - you pay for over a life-time but have a "real job"

I would suggest you look at it from the "Work" point of view, not the dollar cost.

Do you want a top tier degree with a little ivy, a RA degree, or just a degree that looks impressive ?

For the most part, a Doctorate degree is not a must in the working world - soft vs hard science. - I'm referring to earning power, example a MBA vs. a DBA, or say a Masters in Toxicology vs. a Doctorate in Toxicology.

An enviromnmental company would pay 80-85 for the Masters, maybe 87-90 tops for the Doctorate. A controller with a MBA would earn 80-90K, with a DBA - about 80-90K (This is not a CFO) - look at Salary.com for some basic education - it's free



You might look at Case Western; John Bear had one with a 85K price tag, UOP/DM will cost 35K, Pepperdine has a value added OD program will cost about 65K, cooldegrees.com offers some for less than $300.00, another for only $29.00

 

Huh....It seems from USNEWS.edu that Caltech wins (a brick and mortar school), I was wondering if similar methodology was conducted by anyone for DLs.

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/dollars/rankings/bvnatudoc/bvnatudoc.htm

 

In a full-time on-campus program that provides institutional support in the form of assistantships and stuff. Many of these are not only effectively free, they *pay you* to earn a degree.

Regarding DL, where the choices are less abundant and more varied, I think that your question is overbroad. "Best quality" only makes sense when the criteria for "best" are spelled out, and that's pretty much an individual thing. It will depend on what it is that you want to study and on how you intend to use your degree once you earn it.

I'd suggest specifying a major field and perhaps a specialty. Then you can determine if any DL programs exist in that area at all. If so, they will probably be so few in number that your problem will become easy to answer.

Although doctoral programs are the obsession of this discussion board, they are not the main thrust of DL in general. That seems to be masters degrees.

 

payoff

Whether a degree can "payback" the expenses depends on the field, prior experience of the student, and the market when the degree is finished. In some cases a degree does mean higher wages, but it can still take years to recover the expenses,lost revenue and lost networking contacts while a student.
A few years ago some high school grads. went into computer programming. One directly to industry, the other getting a 4 year degree. They ended up at the same company. The guy with 4 years experience was making more than the new college grad. The college grad. also had $31,000 in college loans to pay off. The full time college student had earned 4 years less salary than the direct to industry guy. The direct to industry guy worked on his degree part-time, mostly paid for by the industry. The direct to industry guy entered the field when the market was "hot" and people with skill could advance. Now the computer market is different.
Depending on the field you are getting the ph.d. in, there can be a similar situation. Those that work on their degree full time are loosing salary, having expenses, and somewhat out of touch with those in industry or an agency that would promote them.
The professions that benefit the most from full time doctoral work are those which involve research and networking in the research community. In other words, someone who intends to end up in college teaching and research benefits the most from being a full time college doctoral student.
If you are looking at a counseling field, there seems to be nice payoff going from a BA/BS to a MA/MEd/MS in counseling. Since many counseling credentials require a master level degree. The payoff going from a Masters to a ph.d., psy.d., or Ed.D. in counseling may not be as great. This is especially the case when looking at high expenses, years of reduced earnings while a student, and loss of networking in the agencies.
The advice to look at the prevailing wages makes much sense. Really, education is in part something you do for the intrinsic value of knowledge and only part for the economic value of the degree.
All the best!

 

Wealth of information in this thread, let me add my 2 cents:
Generally speaking for a Doctorate education (regardless of chosen major) , I would rate the schools reputation. Below is what I think is prevailing .

1) USQ
2) UNISA (South Africa- cheaper pe credit hour than USQ but less difficult to get in)
3) NSU

Wonder what others think-

Good Luck!