If you could return your DL degree and get all of your money back, would you?

There are plenty of employers that could not care less whether your degree was earned online or not. Plenty of people who have gotten significant raises because of their DL degrees. There are many circumstances where people have found an excellent ROI from a DL degree. While what you say is true in some circumstances, it is not accurate to make such broad and general statements about the negative aspects of distance education. That is, unless you are saying that just for the fun of ruffling a few feathers.

 

I'm surprised by that. I would think that every university would ask for transcripts. Very interesting, thanks for that.

 

There was just an internal announcement about a new director of marketing for the West in a certain division and he has 20 years experience and a BSBA from ......drum roll.... UoP. I work for a very conservative company and they see the value in experience, not just the name of the school. Like I have said all along, it is about the complete package you bring to the table. When these announcements are released the background is listed with schools like Temple, University of Penn, Penn State, and a variety of state schools.

 

That about sums it up. You know me well MC!

Abner

 

I worked in IT for over 20 years, nobody asked me where I got my degree. I don't think it matters much for some fields like IT or Electronics. If you can do the job, the degree only becomes a check mark.

The issue is for graduate degrees. MBAs have little ROI if they come from low tier schools (online or B&M) and the same is for PhDs.

I agree with Cyber that online graduate degrees seem to have mainly utility for online adjunct positions (Besides impressing your friends and be called Dr at restaurants and used in business cards).

 

What other motivation would anyone need than this? People pay more than $60K for a Mercedes that offers few advantages over a lowly Chevy except the ability to impress others. You can't say that a Mercedes has a good ROI either. Maybe someone might buy a Mercedes just for the pleasure of owning it and does not care about impressing others. It is also possible for someone to earn a DL graduate degree just for the pleasure of the accomplishment.

 

Wow, rich and humble too! :smile: Can I borrow some money?

 

Although my degree was mainly paid by my employer, I counted all the hours that I put on it and it had a huge opportunity cost. It took me about 6000 hours of work. I charge about $60 an hour as a consultant so this is more than 300K in lost revenue.

The ROI of my degree was negative if I count the time invested but the satisfaction is what it counts.

The return of investment of Doctorates is negative for most of us. No matter if they employer pays for it as you have the opportunity cost that adds a huge cost to it. I have discussed the same issue with many colleagues that have done doctorates and we all agree that is negative even if you had scholarships or free tuition. The only exceptions are those people that do a PhD from a place like Harvard or MIT and get to land those 300K+ jobs but those are rare.

 

I agree, the opportunity cost of your time is very large. One thing to consider is the fact that many people greatly enjoy the process and the opportunity cost is different for them. In my case, going to university has always been one of my favorite things in life, from Cal State Long Beach to Liberty University, and I absolutely love working on my doctorate and I'm fascinated by the subject I have chosen. So for me, there is no opportunity cost of time because there is nothing I would rather be doing and it is not encroaching on my money making opportunities. I'm doubt that I'm alone in this attitude.

 

I think the same holds for management. The CEO where I work has a BA in Humanities from a state school. It is the track record that matters.

 

That is a great way to look at the opportunity cost. Your model assume you turned down 6,000 hours of work or it would have been available.
For me, it could not be measured in dollars as there was no other "work" I could have been doing. It could be measured in a few thousand hours of missed time with my family...that is priceless. My wife claims the PhD sucked the "fun out of my personality".

 

Yes, opportunity cost for this is priceless. I believe that educational achievements give you satisfaction that cannot be measured with money.

The reality is that most people only need a BS from an accredited to provide for their families. I don't think it matters much if it is from an online school, I have taught some undergraduate courses at some online schools and some of the students are amazing and are highly motivated, these students will do great in life not so much because the degree but the attitude and desire to learn and improve themselves.

We are over killing online schools, I'm guilty of this too. They work for most people in real life, they might not give you that CEO position but they help to get a decent job and provide opportunities for people that otherwise wouldn't be able to complete their education.

My only concern is the excessive amount of people doing online doctorates in business and MBAs. These programs prepare you for a very narrow market that include jobs in academia and high level management. This market is very competitive and there are enough people already with good credentials struggling to get into this market. The result is just credential inflation as these people with online MBAs and PhDs end doing the same jobs that people with a regular BS would do 20 years ago that. The end result seems to be more debt for those students and more money for these greedy schools selling the paper qualification.

 

I understand this point and somewhat agree. I (personally) see online MBAs as something that should be earned by the manages that are already "there" and need the degree to complement the experience they already have in addition to learning new skills. If you work in a position that provides no management experience and you go for an online MBA, depending on the school, it may not provide you with the boost you need to break into management.

I have worked for the same company for 11 years and have no intention of ever leaving, but if I had to look for another job in the corporate work my education section would be scaled down and include my MS-ITM but probably not my MBA and certainly not a PhD. I think MBAs have become to common and suggest that someone get one from a strong name school (online or B&M), like UF, or just get an MS in a specialty area and I think that can lend more to a school from anyplace (online or B&M). I am starting to ramble...I am done.

 

Yes you should!!!! Tried to make this all caps but the system would not accept it.

 

That is your call and an MBA is a fine degree. I would always recommend looking at an MS/MA in something more focused or an MBA with a grad certifiate in a focus just to really set yourself apart from others.