Looking for a cheap, accredited, online DBA or PhD - Business

Thanks again for responses so far...more...

Yes, I found the Kennessaw State DBA. Very attractive until I noticed the $72,000 price tag ($24,000 per year).

I have been researching Northcentral. My research has turned up some bad, but mostly good reviews. Affordable - $560ish per credit hour, if I recall correctly.

I'm intrigued by the UK school options, but - prolly due to my own ignorance - I find myself reluctant to commit to a school not on North American soil. I guess I feel that potential employers would frown upon such an education, but I might be way off base in feeling that way. I will continue to investigate and learn...

As of this moment, Northcentral seems to be the best option. Another option is to simply wait, as more and more schools seem to be popping up to fill this educational void. I just hate waiting, though....feels like I'm wasting time.

Please keep the ideas coming. I really appreciate all the feedback, and I'm sure there are others out there reading this thread who are benefitting as well.

 

If your intention is to teach at the university level, you will have a much easier time doing so with a European DBA/PhD that is AACSB accredited than you will with a Northcentral University doctorate.

 

I checked into Aston and Manchester, but did not see where their DBAs are distance-learning. I will continue investigating, but it appears they are more part-time oriented than distance-learning oriented.

Your AACSB suggestion seems prudent, and it makes sense to act on it, but I continue to struggle to match up distance-learning, AACSB and affordable - LOL.

Is AACSB accreditation necessary to teach at the community college level?

 

This is a quote directly from Aston's web site on the DBA:

"The programme is examined by presentation of the thesis. It is available on a full and part-time basis with part of the Research Methods Course available by Distance Learning mode."

Like most distance learning doctorates, with the exception of Northcentral University, Aston requires short residencies. Keep in mind that the DBA offered through these schools is designed with the working professional in mind. The short residences are designed to be completed during vacation time from work.

 

This is a quote on the DBA taken directly from Manchester's web site:

"Participants of this part time / blended learning DBA are likely to be consultants, senior executives, business owner-managers, practitioners or would be practitioners - who cannot or choose not to put their career on hold.

The DBA programme is flexible, portable and international and is designed to enable you to balance the demands of your career, study and family, whilst completing a significant research undertaking.

 

Here is the deal. There are not that many full time college level(brick and mortar) teaching jobs open for doctorates...period. People likely to get such a job are going to be graduating from U.S. institutions doing heavy research.

One may be able to find adjunct jobs, though. Adjunct positions are not caring so much about where the doctorate came from as long as there is regional accreditation in the mix. I learned this by talking with a number of "cyber" professors. I have no personal experience with this. Also, colleges are cutting back these days.

Someone with more experience in this feel free to chime in.

bing

 

If you look at the jobs available for teaching at sites such as http://www.higheredjobs.com/, you will notice that most of the jobs are either contracts or adjunct positions. There are not that many full time tenure tracks available so I'm with you that anyone with a low tier doctorate is going to have a hard time landing a tenure track at a research institution.

However, if you notice, in the technical fields, there are many positions that put a lot of emphasis in certifications and technical knowledge rather than degrees but these positions are not at research institutions. I think that a PhD from Walden, Northcentral, Nova or any other low tier has a good chance at a technical college or 4 year institution provided that the person has good working experience and technical certifications.

It is not very realistic that a person with little experience can land a job as a management professor only based on a PhD from Northcentral or other online schools. However, it is possible that a PhD from Northcentral with good working experience and technical certifications can land a job at a school like Devry( I know at least one person that was able to land a job there with a PhD from NCU).

 

There are hundreds of openings currently for FT TT professors. Agreed, it is tough to secure any position, but it is not that positions do not exist. If you go with an AACSB degree, and publish, you can get a FT TT position at an AACSB school. If you get an AACSB doctorate and not have lots of other qualifications, you could probably secure a position at a school trying to get AACSB accredited (right now candidates).

 

As more and more schools look towards AACSB accreditation, the requirement for faculty with AACSB-accredited degrees will increase. Schools that are looking for this accreditation are proactively hiring faculty with AACSB-accredited degrees. Right or wrong, AACSB has set the standards for these hiring practices based on the market for accreditation.

If you are looking to start a doctorate NOW, it would probably be wise to choose an AACSB-accredited program; better ROI.

 

Impractical but accurate advice. (It is largely impractical advice because of extremely limited availabiliy of AACSB doctoral programs via DL.)

 

This depends a lot on the field too. I teach Information Systems and although the AACSB accreditation requirement comes often, it is not as rigorous as other fields of business as many people with Computer Science or Engineering degrees teach IS.

Tenure track positions in IS don't come as often, I'm subscribed to the Association for IS that is one of the main sources of job opportunities for IS professors and only 2 tenure track positions have been advertised from January 2009 and none of them require an AACSB accredited doctorate (links below):

http://www.siue.edu/humanresources/employmentopportunities/faculty/business/gr09-89f.shtml
https://www.uaeujobs.com/applicants/jsp/shared/frameset/Frameset.jsp?time=1232628283055

I also monitor highered jobs and there are also only a handful of tenure track positions available and most don't require AACSB accreditation.

I think that the AACSB accreditation might be more important for some fields like Accounting and Finance but less critical for fields like Operations and IS as you have many professors from Engineering and Science teaching these fields. In IS, I see more often requirements like Security Certifications. In any case, it looks like the market for IS professors is not that high nowadays as I'm pretty sure that those two positions that are available worldwide are not enough for all the graduates of the world.

 

This may be true, but if the program is in the business school - the accreditation requirements would fall with all the programs within the business school, so the faculty qualifications would need to be met throughout all of the business school - meaning, if the IS department is in the business school - they would need the AACSB grads or publication requirements of those faculty to be in line of the other faculty in the other programs, and that is why I think AACSB is an across the board requirement.

 

College/University Doctorate
Indiana State University $18,900
Touro University International $25,000
"Mississippi State University " $27,200
Northcentral University $28,350
New Jersey Institute of Technology $28,800
Southern Methodist University $31,890
DePaul University (School of Computer Science, Telecommunications, and Information Systems) $35,700
Cappela $36,000
Nova Southeastern University $36,000
University of South Carolina $36,000
"Portland State University " $40,000
The University of Alabama in Huntsville $40,000
Baker College $40,500
University of Phoenix $45,000
University of Phoenix $45,000
Jones International University $50,000
Nova Southeastern University $55,000
Colorado Technical university $57,500
Walden University $60,000
University of Maryland University College $70,000
Walsh College $70,000

 

I consider fully accredited to be professionally accredited, so this list would not be accurate for me, but if fully accredited is RA, it would be a good lis tto go by.

 

AACSB or other?

If AACSB check out: http://www.bestbizschools.com/ (run by AACSB) and then do your own research.

 

Any update to the cost on this list?

 

Executive Doctorate | Graduate School of Business | Rollins College

UNC School of Public Health - Executive Doctoral Program in Health Leadership (DrPH)

Doctorate of Professional Studies - iSchool - The School of Information Studies - Syracuse University