How do people afford these degrees?

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by emmzee, Apr 9, 2010.

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  1. emmzee

    emmzee New Member

    I was just browsing Claremont Graduate University's website after seeing the name posted in another thread, and calculated that to earn a PhD at their school it would cost AT LEAST $125,000US, probably significantly more than that considering they say the normal time is 7-8 years full time to earn a PhD (that figure would be for 5 years). For a MA degree it would be $55,000+. (Tuition info)

    Claremont sounds like a school that would be a good fit for my interests (religion / theology / humanities), but I can't imagine how I would ever pay for such a degree. My question is, do schools like this usually offer large bursaries or other funds to offset the posted tuition costs, or is the student expected to assume the entire cost? Ie, would the student be likely to have to pay most/all of the $125k or would the school cover a lot of it?

    (Just a note since this is a distance ed board, these degrees are not available via distance/online, they are on-site in-residence only.)
     
  2. AUTiger00

    AUTiger00 New Member

    In most cases, when a student takes on a PhD in residence they receive a stipend and some form of tuition waiver. None of my friends in PhD's at b-schools are paying for tuition and they all receive between $20-$25k as a stipend, just enough to cover living expenses. I believe it is similar for other programs though the stipend may be smaller for programs in the humanities. Often b-school PhDs will take on consulting jobs to earn a little extra cash, especially during the summer months when they have a bit of downtime.
     
  3. Ian Anderson

    Ian Anderson Active Member

    I know someone doing the joint CSULB/Claremont Graduate School Ph.D. in Engineering and Industrial Applied Mathematics and his employer is paying all tuition costs.
     
  4. cookderosa

    cookderosa Resident Chef

    It's a real question, and I think the obvious answer is that they are willing to incur debt. <shrug>
    I am of the philosophy that education is an appreciable asset, however, a little math needs to be involved.

    On an aside, I strongly considered several graduate schools that would shorten 2 full years off of my current career path- and that's 2 years in industry earning a professional income- which you have to consider. I investigated specific advanced entry programs, however, what sent me back to the slow road was tuition. Since we are naming names, Columbia's College of Nursing and Yale's College of Nursing both want $150,000 for the accelerated path. There were 11 schools on my list, and Columbia & Yale were the most expensive- but not by much. ***Stipends are NOT part of these programs- people are absolutely taking out max student loans and private loans on top of that*** All of the accelerated path programs I looked at were around $80-90,000 and the cheapest was $57,000 at University of Illinois - where I would qualify for in state tuition.
    (these are not distance programs either)

    It's a lot of money, and maybe I'm too old or too skeptical to drop that kind of money on anything besides real estate, but people are doing it. But then again, many people see nothing wrong with debt.

    I wouldn't do it simply because the degree only generates income once you have graduated, and there is a whole lotta life in between your first class and graduation. In some cases, we are talking about >6 years. Unless you are a loyal-committed-driven-discipled-finisher-achiever, that amount of debt will be a really bad plan.
     
  5. Randell1234

    Randell1234 Moderator

    I just can't imagine taking on that kind of debt! I paid about $12.6K out of pocket for all my education over the past 12 years.
     
  6. Maniac Craniac

    Maniac Craniac Moderator Staff Member

    The truth is, like houses, cars and vacations, many people can't actually afford these degrees. However, they get them anyway. Hence, debt, bankruptcy and bailouts.
     
  7. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    Either they get someone else to pay for it or they mortgage their future.
     
  8. AUTiger00

    AUTiger00 New Member

    but bankruptcy won't cover student loans. You should see the kids at the b-school here, $75k a year and they don't bat an eye when they sign the papers.
     
  9. cookderosa

    cookderosa Resident Chef

    >>

    I won't do it either. My path will be slower, but I'm paying cash :)
     
  10. ITJD

    ITJD Active Member

    I wouldn't either for HBS, the Harvard Alum Network and connections into the executive education sphere. Two years at 75 puts out at 150 and I can pretty much guarantee that those loans are some of the surest things going if the recipients are diligent, bright and connected.
     
  11. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    It's almost enough to make you think twice about those South African universities.
     
  12. telefax

    telefax Member

    Hi Darren,

    Most PhD programs at US research universities are fully funded. Universities with resources like Harvard won't even admit more students than they can fully fund (tuition + stipend). Therefore, they make no effort to limit the publicly stated tuition cost, because they are writing it all off. Some smaller research uni's can only fully fund a portion of their admitted students, but they usually allow those not fully funded to student teach to cover the difference. I don't know which end of the spectrum Claremont falls on, however.
     
  13. makana793

    makana793 New Member

    I can't imagine not being able to work and pursue a career. I wish I had the ability to take off several years of my life to devote completely to education. Well good for them.
     
  14. Fortunato

    Fortunato Member

    Makana,

    I think the point that you're missing here is that for most people who pursue PhD degrees, the time taken to pursue their education isn't "taken off" per se, it is a necessary step on their chosen career path. Most full-time PhD students are also full time teachers and full time researchers in their field. That's why most of them receive tuition waivers and stipends, because they are earning them by rendering a valuable service to their school. Don't sell these folks short, for the most part, they are doing a boatload of work for very little pay with no guarantee as to how it will all turn out in the end.
     
  15. cdhale

    cdhale Member

    I have started looking at Texas Universities for a PhD and/or MFA. I only really started looking because I qualify for the Hazelwood Act, which allows me to be exempt from most tuition and fees in a Texas public university. Once I started looking and spoke with various schools, I learned that basically, if accepted into a PhD program, it is fully funded and I would be expected to serve as a TA or GA (depends on which school) and would receive a stipend (usually between 18K and 25K). The cost would be zero.

    The downside is that the programs are highly competitive and only a limited number of applicants are accepted into the programs.
     
  16. cookderosa

    cookderosa Resident Chef

    >>

    LOL, ok, so you and my husband would agree. Here's the thing, there is a whole group of people for which earning the PhD and then doing research for the rest of their life to answer a question IS their career. I know, lol, it took me a while to wrap my brain aound that being an actual "job" but for many people it's true!
     
  17. Ian Anderson

    Ian Anderson Active Member

    I heard last night that my local UC engineering school has income of $35 million/year in resaearch awards from outside sources including NSF and energy companie. This helps support faculty and students conducting research.
     
  18. makana793

    makana793 New Member

    I think you may have misunderstood me I never said that the work they perform is below value. Neither did I state that the time they spend on their ph.d work is purely a vacation. I'm merely making the statement that I would not be pursue a ph.d on a full time basis because I lack the time, resources or energy. I've been gainfully employed in law enforcement and military since I was 18 years old and I've been able to obtain 2 graduate degrees out of it. I think that a full time ph.d armed with applicable work experience would probably make the biggest impact in our community which is what I stress but that's just me. I've said this countless times but I've taken classes from folks armed with ph.d's from quality universities and ample research experience who've never spent a day conducting a criminal investigation, working in a prison or patroling a neighborhood. To answer your question, I respect individuals who have the stamina to endure full time ph.d work however they should not overlook the value of good old fashion work experience to supplement graduate work.
     
  19. Dave Wagner

    Dave Wagner Active Member

    Unless you are observing extreme cases of narcissism, incompetency, or some other unknown factor, the Ph.D. should take no more than three years full time. The presumption behind a "doctoral program" is that the school is capable and willing to produce scholars at the doctoral level. A difficult research agenda could stretch the length of the program beyond three years full time. Part-time programs are going to vary beyond three years depending on how much is required and how much effort the student applies. At least this school has decency to disclose that it does not intend to follow any known doctoral process...
     
  20. emmzee

    emmzee New Member

    Yea, Claremont seems to require more than most schools ... from their FAQ:

    Most students require 7 to 8 years from start to finish. You must complete a minimum of 72 semester units of graduate course work, about 3 years of full time work (you may transfer up to 24 semester units of graduate work). Most students need approximately 1-3 years to complete major papers, qualifying exams, and research tools (ancient and modern language exams), followed by 2-4 years of writing the dissertation.
    http://www.cgu.edu/pages/1468.asp
     

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