Is an online doctorate worth the effort anymore?

Well, I cannot speak for the entire population in question; however, for hundreds of colleagues of mine who are faculty and administrators in K-12, community college and university settings in which their doctorates earned online played a factor in promotion and/or tenure, the online doctorate was certainly worth the effort. For a number of our adjunct faculty (who would not have been hired without the doctorate), it appears to have been worth the effort.

 

That would be me he is referring to....

 

I would offer that the feeling behind the perception that the value of earning such a degree has dropped comes from a lowered level of exclusivity.

When I started in this field in 1978, a school offering night school programs was considered nontraditional. Like in the game of Life, choosing to go to college or directly to work was often a one-time decision--getting a degree later on was nearly impossible. This notion seems absurd today.

These days, getting a degree--at any level--is almost completely a function of capability and willingness--and money. Access/opportunity is solved. True, you're not going to Harvard, but then, who is?

So getting a degree seems less exclusive. But it certainly is more democratic. Not entirely, but more so.

 

The above post is accurate.

There has always been a glut of B&M doctoral degree holders e.g. there aren't enough jobs in academia to absorb all the B&M doctoral holders that are being produced annually. It's been that way for many years. Online doctorates are no different i.e. there isn't a sudden glut of doctoral holders that is overwhelming the market.

 

What I have seen is a change in the education market. There is more demand of online courses and therefore more demand of online adjunct faculty versus full time on ground faculty.

When I started teaching online 12 years ago, most adjuncts had masters degree and PhDs were rare. Today, most new online adjuncts have traditional masters and PhDs from online institutions.

It looks to me like the online PhD from an online institution is becoming the teaching credential to teach online programs. This makes sense as graduates from these programs have online learning experience and are more familiar with the online learning issues.

The other people that benefit from this new online type of programs are administrators, community college, 4 year university teachers, etc that can reach a higher pay scale because the doctorate.

As Tony said, these are the two main group of people that benefit from such programs (online adjuncts and people that can use any accredited doctorate for a pay bump). However, people that think that an online PhD from an online institution is going to lead to tenure tracks at traditional schools, senior consulting roles for top consulting firms, research positions, etc would find that this type of degrees are not the best to reach these goals.

 

It's also true that many aspiring students think that a B&M PhD from a B&M institution is going to lead to tenure tracks at traditional schools, senior consulting roles for top consulting firms and research positions. However, this is no guarantee since there has been a glut of B&M doctoral holders for many years.

 

Indeed, but I have never met a person that is going to a full time doctoral program in order to become an adjunct although many end doing this. On the other hand, many people doing online doctorates have the goal of becoming adjuncts.

 

You have never met a person that is going to a full time B&M doctoral program in order to become a janitor, although some end up doing exactly that. News stories with links have been previously posted.

 

Very good point. You spoke something I have been feeling in my gut but have not been able to put my finger on. Thanks, Rich.

 

Yes, thank you. This is exactly what I attempted to communicate in my original post, unfortunately, I did not do as good of a job as you did.

 

What worries me is that online schools are not producing statistics for doctoral graduates such as before and after salaries, post doctoral positions, etc. It looks like someone doesn't want to release the truth about alumni.

 

Which B&M schools keep before and after salary statistics on B&M doctoral graduates? Also, what percentage of B&M schools keep those kinds of statistics?

Since many B&M schools have students that go straight from high school through the doctorate, would the "before" low salaries (i.e. no real work experience in high school) skew the B&M statistics, thus making the salary jump appear to be disproportionally larger (i.e. jumping from part-time employment in high school to post graduate full-time employment)? Conversely, most non-traditional doctoral students are full-time working adults who started doctoral studies after being in the work force for many years.

 

I think for a non-traditional person, the salary before/after may not be able to be contributed to the degree. These are usually experienced people and may or may not have moved up with or without the degree. To be fair it would have to compare salary at graduation vs. salary after 3-5 years. When I finished my PhD, my salary was 2.5 times what it was when I started it but the year I completed my PhD (2010) to the next year (2011) it dropped by $10K now it should bounce up by about $35K over 2011. Does that mean that finishing a PhD causes a potential salary decrease when just the act of pursuing one increases your salary?

Post doc position - never applied or cared for it, that is not where my interests are.

I think a better study would be to ask PhD holders when their plans were to use their PhD for and how close is the actual outcome now that they completed it. You know what, I will create a simple survey like that, post it here and on Linkedin and report the results back. Want to add anything to it?

 

I asked two professors for opinions on getting a PhD. One, who earned hers from the most research intensive university in Ontario, suggested that I don't do it unless I have a very strong reason for wanting a PhD. Even then, she recommended against it. She said job prospects are slim today and that her own PhD chair told her the same and she was lucky she found a job because when she graduated there was a bit of hiring boom at the time but things are worse now for those looking for tenure jobs in traditional B&M schools. They are increasingly using adjuncts even for graduate programs.

The other professor who earned his PhD from an ivy league school said that unless you get a PhD from a top school (ivy league, big ten, etc.) which will open as many academic doors as there are limited today, the payback in terms of job prospects and time investment just won't be there. His ivy league education helped him but he still did not get many job offers. He firmly believed that had he received his PhD from a lesser school, he would definitely have struggled to find stable work. Sure, they have the traditional academic world in mind, and may not apply in other situations for seeking a doctorate, but nonetheless, it's food for thoughts for those contemplating PhD for full time academic careers.

 

Perhaps it's not worth gathering. Mid-career students returning to earn doctoral degrees probably know what it's worth. Also, many factors enter into increases in one's income; it might be difficult to isolate the degree's effect.

 

But outside of academia, you'd be surprised. My income doubled within a year of graduating, and in the decade since went up another 50%. At one point it was 5 times as high as it was pre-doctorate (when I was consulting). No university would have paid that.

 

PhD's are like cockroaches?

 

How does this look - Doctoral Degree Satisfaction Survey