University of Rhode Island Low-Res AACSB DBA

The AACSB-accredited Doctor of Business‎ Administration at the University of Rhode Island (URI) combines synchronous and asynchronous online learning with three residencies each year for three years, in August, January, and June, residencies "mostly" 3 days, on campus in Kingston, RI.

The program is designed for completion in three years, with a dissertation proposal is developed in year two and the dissertation completed in year three. There don't appear to be titled specializations.

Admission requirements include a master's and 10 years professional experience with at least 7 in a management capacity. Tuition and fees total $83 175.

 

For an AACSB Accredited DBA, the tuition is actually reasonable. Every single other I have seen is $100K+.

 

Sticking strictly to ROI, there is an individual's ROI and a sponsoring organization's ROI.

If I'm looking at a degree strictly for a return (through earnings) of my tuition investment, it would be hard to justify an individual's decision to pay for that. They might not see a positive return at all, or perhaps a poor one. But a sponsoring organization investing in the right person might see hundreds percent (or more) return. I can only create so much salary for myself, but my contributions to the business could add millions to the bottom line. So, paying to go to an expensive program might be a bad idea for me, but a great idea for my company.

 

I agree. Institutions play games with doctorates. In theory, we could argue that it is a good investment if we see the salaries published by AACSB for professors. However, the main issue is that it is a DBA and not a PhD. The DBA is becoming a cash cow for universities but its value is questionable as Rich mentions, many universities will not hire DBAs for tenure track positions but only PhDs as the last ones are designed for professor careers. This leaves DBA career options limited to professional options that can be achieved with a regular MBA.
As Rich mentions, there is the risk that the individual spends the 85K and ends with the same career that had before with just another degree. The PhD seems to be a less risky option as the academic career seems to be more visible with clear salary expectations but not so much the DBA.
The DBA did not do well in Australia, many DBAs were phased out because graduates realized that the ROI was not there or expectations were not met.. In the US similar things might happen.
I particularly feel that this DBA could be a good option for a person already working at a business school as a full time faculty that needs the Doctorate just for a promotion within the same school as an administrator or executive director.
Sponsorship makes more sense, it becomes a huge tax benefit for the institution and no risk for the student as no investment is made. I went this route myself.

 

Time to remind folks that the DBA is supposed to be a practitioner's degree, while the PhD is supposed to be for scholars.

 

I'm sorry. I can't help it. The expression "low res" makes me think of a certain type of dog chow.

 

Or a bad computer screen.