Earn your doctorate online and be an online adjunct? Might be tough.

It is a shame that I quit them, I could be making $1000 bucks a course instead of the $500 that I was making. Seriously, continuing education courses at my school pay more even with the increase and a BS is all it is required to teach there. It looks like a great amount of the faculty they have are their own graduates, I wonder if with 1000 bucks a course they are able to get their investment back in less than 10 years.

 

My MS-ITM from Touro University International was only $6,750 and my Trident MBA was only something like $8K (less Tuition Assistance it was $1K / $6K) so their prices are really reasonable compared to other for-profits.

 

If your five year old child says either of the following, then get them some help:

• When I grow up, I want to be a correctional officer.
  .
• When I grow up, I want to get a doctorate so I can be a part-time adjunct. That's the only thing I want a doctorate for.

 

Man, this is the LAST place I would expect to see anti-intellectualism... If my 5 year old said that they wanted to earn a doctorate degree, I would be proud of them no matter what they wanted to do with it. Im sorry you dont value education but many people still do...

 

It was humor. However, if a person's goal is to get a doctorate for the sole reason of teaching as an adjunct, then if his bubble isn't bursted now, it eventually will be. A doctorate is a research degree and not a teaching degree.

 

Part time teaching is not the goal of most people but it is the reality of many. During many years I attended conferences where I met many people that made a living as adjunct professors. Many were doing online doctorates just to be more competitive in getting more work.

Many do online doctorates with the hope to make the transition to a full time position but many know that this is not going to happen so they just do it to be more competitive.

There are many people that do these programs just to get more work as adjuncts. You can laugh about it but it is the situation of many.

The situation of lack of work among academics is not only for online graduates, I know a person that just finished his PhD at AACSB accreditation institution after 7 long years of full time work as he is making a living now as an adjunct. He has been doing this for more than two years and I am sure that he did not had the goal of becoming one but he is in this career path like it or not.

 

Okay. This is weird. I worked in corrections for 3 years and have a great deal of respect for correctional officers. Many were using the experience as a launching pad to other things. Others were retired from other professions/occupations and were looking towards something steady. (I worked with Stephen Caracappa--you could look him up.) Still others were putting in an honest day's work for a decent wage. A few were bad, but they were so much in the minority.

I learned a lot, collected some really valuable stories, and met some really interesting characters.

 

Awesome, Steve. You summed it up perfectly!

 

Corrections is a tough job and it's not for everyone and not everyone can do it.

 

There are many people who post in the Capella University LinkedIn groups who want to do exactly what you are saying, or believe they are going to get a job in Higher Ed administration because of their doctorate.

When I post how much work I had to do (conferences, adjuncting, small tribal college, etc.), many are shocked.

 

Just my 2 cents about your friend - there are plenty of business teaching jobs available. Is your friend willing to move, start a a "lower tier' school, etc.

 

From my experience I don't think individuals obtained a doctorate online with the express intent of working in higher ed or adjuncting. Instead, it's one of those things that kind of developed over time by "accident". I work in LE and some of my friends obtained graduate degrees to obtain promotions and later on obtained side teaching gigs with small community colleges, private universities and the infamous UoP of course. It's one of those things just "evolves".

 

Some people want to teach as an adjunct because they enjoy teaching at the college level. It's not about the money. It's about personal satisfaction. It makes them feel good about themselves. It may even serve as a type of status symbol to them, like sports cars or boats are to others. To me, it's always a good thing when someone chooses to become more educated, regardless of their reasons or the money they spend on it.

 

Yep.

One instance comes to mind...

From time to time I post links to the University of Saint Francis (USF) employment website. Right now USF is conducting a nationwide search for a Dean of our new College of Adult Learning. A person on the Capella U LinkedIn board wanted me to give them advice on their CV as he/she planned to apply for the position.

This person had done some Sunday School teaching for their church, along with some ministry work, but truly believed that by virtue of completing comps (no dissertation yet) in an EdD program in Higher Education leadership, that he/she would be qualified to be a dean...

Granted, that's one example, but many people will say I want a job in Higher Ed; and when I ask about relocation, or taking a first job at a community college (my first adjunct gig was at Southern Ohio College (now part of Brown Mackie), there is a sense of disbelief.

This is not just an issue at Capella; I recently read an article in the Chronicle about the rosy outlook of doctoral students throughout the academy...

On an unrelated note, I am beginning my 2nd day of training as a peer reviewer for HLC. Yesterday we did mock analysis of 5 schools, matching up good and bad to the accreditation criteria.

Shawn

 

Shhhhh! You cant use reason around here! Anyone who wants to get a doctoral degree to teach part time is an idiot, period! SteveFoerster, Rich Douglas, and me again know all so dont dare question them (even though SteveFoerster posts in other threads saying he has a hard time finding qualified teachers and wants to hand his business cards out to newly minted doctoral students...)!

 

Yikes! I think your satire might work better if it cited RFValve. As is, I think Rich's main argument here is that online doctoral candidates, in the main, have other compelling reasons. me again emphasized the related case that an doctoral candidate should have reasons other than wanting to adjunct. Steve should naturally be sympathetic to anyone who attempts a doctorate, or six.

 

Careful please. Your statements are sounding like personal attacks. I'm sure hearing what you don't want to hear is frustrating, but these guys are not just blowing wind.

There is nothing stopping you from getting your doctorate and attempting to teach, you might even succeed. Just be forewarned that it is not as easy or lucrative as it used to be.