Making use of the NCU Ph.D. degree

Some of us do not have the time. luxury or ability to attend full-time B&M doctoral programs. My local state university requires students to be full-time for their first year of doctoral studies, which means no full-time jobs. I guess I could quit my job to enter a traditional B&M doctoral program. However, I enjoy eating food and sleeping under a roof, which cost money, so on second thought, maybe I better not quit my day job, at least not yet???

Another option for me is to attend Argosy University because they do not allow more than 49% of their classes to be online, although there is talk that that will be changing soon. At any rate, the only way I can afford Argosy University is to start taking out student loans, which is against my belief system e.g. if I can't afford to pay cash for a product, then I can't afford the product. Besides, why would I want to go in debt 40 to 60k for a doctorate? I wouldn't!!!

The last option for me is Northcentral University, which is 100% online. Is there a stigma to online schools? Yes, there is a stigma in your mind, as you admitted, but what percentage of the rest of the population could be biased towards an online degree? That would be hard to measure.

The stigma does not stop at online schools, but is much deeper. My brother is a tenured professor at a major research university and he explained that when one is trying to get a tenure track position at a major research university, then the school that you graduated from plays a significant factor. As John Bear also pointed out, who you studied under for your dissertation may also play a significant role.

Then it can be broken down even further then that. Some schools have great reputations in some areas, but mediocre reputations in other areas. For example, Georgia Tech has a great reputation in the United States for its engineering program, but their business and education programs are soso.

The question: Does anyone here really want to become a tenured professor at a major research university in the United States and, if so, does anyone here believe that the online path will lead them to that golden trough [sic]? Let's be realistic: Nobody here expects to travel down that golden path. Most of us are ordinary working men and women who are seizing opportunity when it presents itself -- and online opportunities are legitimate.

 

Looking at my Mobil Travel Guide Atlas, I'd say more like west central Arizona.

 

PhD2B has great advice for those looking into PhD programs. If you want to increase your business acumen but don't see a future in a pure-research oriented field, then why not NCU? I'd think it suits the needs of those people better than even the finest B&M doc program.

If someone wants to get a leg up within an organization (even a college or university), then North Central, Walden, Capella, etc, being legitimate accredited universities, are a great choice for a PhD. They're also cheaper than the Brit schools that do DL biz doctorates and much cheaper in opportunity costs than taking a 4-6 year career interruption to pursue a B&M doc.

There are many professors out there who, having a B&M masters and already having secured the teaching position at a small college, solidify that position and get PhD pay and/or guarantee tenure by going that route. I know at least one of them, I've posted here about him before. It's not that he likely couldn't have gotten into a tradition B&M program or that he doesn't have the goods, it's just that he couldn't afford to throw everything to the wind and blow his fledling academic career by taking all those years off. So he did Walden DL. It worked for him. Under those circumstances, why not?

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Yes, it is cheaper but a DBA from a UK University like Manchester University opens the door to any Univerity worldwide. No point of comparison, it is like comparing apples with oranges.

On the other hand, notice that a DBA fom Manchester is a 6 year part time program compared with the 3 year part time average of NCU. So you have to take into consideration also the opportunity costs and not just tuition fees. As someone said, if you are already a community college professor and need a pay bump then NCU is ideal given its short duration and cost, but if someone is a bit more serious about his or her education a British doctorate from a top school is a better option.

In any case, most of the british doctorates are not pursued by the typical full time employee with a family to feed, most of these doctorates are taken by professors at Universities wanting to get a doctorate for promotion. Most of them are from foreign countries and are financed by their goverments, the tuition fees are not designed to attract the self financed individual working full time at a regular job.

NCU targets a specific market that is the person with lots of work experience wanting to get an accredited doctorate for either self improvement or adjunct teaching.

 

Oral Defense

The other difference is the oral defense is required for the PhD and not the DBA. Also, the dissertation topic for the PhD has to be a new contribution to the field.

Justin

 

Downright Scary!

This is a scary thought but is probably a very good educated hunch.. Also you should have added we probably know more than a very high percentage of the HR depts in this country!

Justin