Affordable PhD Programs in IT

MrNetTek

I've been looking into affordable doctoral programs in IT---and, the schools that do offer doctorates in IT, have astronomically high tuition rates. They start around $60K (Walden), and go as high as $150K (Capella).

Has anyone entered or graduated from an affordable doctoral program? I'm looking for a school. 

jdancer

"Affordable" non-profit ones I can recall are:

Dakota State University

Indiana State University

University of the Cumberlands

May get more luck posting your question at degreeinfo.com and degreeforum.net

cyberguypr

How do you define affordable?

MrsWilliams

Yeah what he said, how do you define affordable for a doctoral program? 



This is going to be so good that I can't wait to come back and see the response 

MrNetTek

In most developed countries, PhDs are free, or nearly free. In many cases, the schools actually pay you to enter a doctoral program. For me, the price would have to be somewhere below 30K. I definitely have flirted with the idea of just entering a program in another country---Germany being at the top of the list. 

-MrNetTek at your service-

JDMurray

Another option is to hire onto a company that will fund doctorate degrees for specific fields. The funding can go as high at 80% typically and up to 100% in the best cases.

Why the need for a Ph.D.? Will you be teaching, researching, publishing, or all three?

MrsWilliams

JDMurray said:

Another option is to hire onto a company that will fund doctorate degrees for specific fields. The funding can go as high at 80% typically and up to 100% in the best cases.

Why the need for a Ph.D.? Will you be teaching, researching, publishing, or all three?

What he asked..

In addition to that, I am not sure that you are going to get a reputable piece of paper for 30k, if that price even exists in the United States. It is people that have paid more than that for undergrad studies and I am not taking about from Ivy League institutions either. 

What I would think about, if I considered a doctoral degree would be competition. Most US hiring managers I am sure are not familiar with every doctoral degree program in every country outside of the US. Hypothetically speaking, if I were a hiring manager and your German laced resume came across my desk I would have to google the authenticity of the program and the school. I am not sure if that would or wouldn't be in your favor. 

Something was on the television last week that I tried to find on the internet and I couldn't find it. It talked about the percentage of people accepted into residency programs that studied stateside versus the people accepted into residency programs that studied internationally. The numbers were drastic. The people who went to medical school in the US was almost guaranteed a residency somewhere. Those who studied internationally had a small percentage of being admitted. This is kind of off topic but it leads me to this. If your qualifications were similar in nature to others competing for the same job and they had a doctoral degree from a (well known) US university and you had a doctoral degree from Germany (that the hiring manager more than likely never heard of) who do you think would get first consideration?

It's been talked about more times than I care to remember about those that get higher education and basically shoot themselves in the foot. If you are attempting down the path that JD mentioned above cool. Any other path might be doing you a disservice on your resume. 

Whatever path you select, good luck!

If you find a 30K doctoral degree from a reputable (US) university, preferably not for profit please post it here! I won't be checking this post often if ever again if that tells you something LOL. 

Good Luck, wish you the best!

MrNetTek

The PhD would be 100% for personal endeavor, not for professional gain. I'm already at the top of my field, professionally speaking. I just would like the challenge, without falling into serious debt. In other countries, the academic journey would not only be free, but would be encouraged. I was just wondering if someone has found a crack in doctoral programs in the United States, where profit-driven programs are not the top priority. Most profit and non-profit doctoral programs are largely the same in the US---that is, they overcharge for grad work you do on your own. The best advice so far, is to seek a company that would reimburse me or pay for the education. The only issue with that is...I love the company I'm with; they just don't reimburse for education.

Perhaps, I'll just embark on doing research on my own and post it at my site.

-MrNetTek at your service-

JDMurray

If you are already at the "top of your field", then you should acquire celebrity through researching, publishing, and teaching but you don't need a Ph.D. to do any of that thanks to the Internet. 

MrNetTek

I'd like the personal challenge.

As for teaching to the point of celebrity status, I blog...receiving close two million hits a month at my site (see stats). That's as close to celebrity as I want to get. 

-MrNetTek at your service-

NetworkNewb

Nice little personal site you got there.  I like it.  

The A+ cert from 2 decades ago.  Very nice

MrNetTek

@NetworkNewb

I share what I can. From the emails and IMs I receive, it's worth the time I put into it.

-MrNetTek at your service-

Evoluvin

Let me know what your find in this. I would be curious to know as well.

msbace

University of Ark - LR seems to have the best cost--I think they are like 400 per credit hour. 

powerfool

Anyone found any PhD programs with a focus on AI?  I just want to realign my capabilities a bit.  I already have an MS and I use that to do some adjunct teaching.  I'd like to be able to open new doors with respect to teaching and better align my career options... it seems like a good place to focus these days.

JDMurray

I'm still working on a PhD in Blockchain.

UnixGuy

JDMurray said:

I'm still working on a PhD in Blockchain.

Where are you doing it if you don't mind sharing?

JDMurray

UnixGuy said:
Where are you doing it if you don't mind sharing?

GPT4 is gearing up to offer PhDs. In fact, GPT4 recommends that I switch to its PhD program in Doubly-Linked Lists to be more AI-compatible.

UnixGuy

oh geez I forgot chatgpt will take over the world right after crypto destroys the dollars and we all become NFTs in the metaverse