I have been searching for an online school for a variety of subjects.  I have interests in education, business and social sciences.  I keep going back and forth on whether to get another degree or not.  I have a few questions to get the ball rolling as I am a new to this web site.  1)  Is American Public University/American Military University coming out with a doctorate in the near future?  2)  Is the Ed.D. program at Aspen University being done by anyone and if so, what are your thoughts?  3) I would love to do the Ed.D. programs at Walden University, but the cost has become out of reach.  Is there anyone who is in one of the Walden doctoral programs that can vouch for the cost and the quality of the program.  I have looked at several online degree review forums and they have been helpful. I guess I'm looking for more information.  Thanks for any help.

Hi SBarron and welcome to the forums.  I don't know the answer to the question on APUS, you'll probably have to contact them directly.  Aspen is a good school but nationally accredited, not regionally which could be a problem if you plan on using this degree to teach at the college level.  What do you plan on using the degree for?

I consider myself a lifelong learner and want to have a degree that I can use to better my career and be affordable.  I teach in a public school and probably will continue to do that for the next 15-20 years.  I have been an adjunct at a local college and would like to do it again.  I think the Ed.D. degree will open a lot more doors for me.  I have authorization to be a principal but not a superintendent.  Maybe there are some knowledgable people out there that can steer me toward an Ed.D in administration that I haven't stumbled upon yet.  I live in a rural community and going to a brick and mortar is almost out of the question.

Hi SBarron, and welcome!

1. If you're interested in moving forward now, I wouldn't wait for APU/AMU to come out with doctoral programs.  I don't think it's at all clear when they'll be able to deploy some.

2. Not by me, but since the point of a doctorate is usually to be competitive for university-level teaching positions, I wouldn't recommend a doctorate from a nationally accredited school anyway.  Employers don't seem to mind much, but there's still a lot of bias in higher education against national accreditation.

3. I've heard mostly good thing about Walden's programs, but I agree they're not cheap.

So I have similar questions to Cajun's -- what do you want to do with a doctorate that you can't do without it?  Also, how much can you handle in the way of residencies? Is there a specific aspect of Education that interests you?  Do you have an upper limit on how much you want to spend on it?

-=Steve=-

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B.S., Info Sys, Charter Oak State College
M.A., Educational Tech Leadership, George Washington University
Doctor of Health Education, A.T. Still University, in progress

SBarron:

I consider myself a lifelong learner and want to have a degree that I can use to better my career and be affordable.  I teach in a public school and probably will continue to do that for the next 15-20 years.  I have been an adjunct at a local college and would like to do it again.  I think the Ed.D. degree will open a lot more doors for me.  I have authorization to be a principal but not a superintendent.  Maybe there are some knowledgable people out there that can steer me toward an Ed.D in administration that I haven't stumbled upon yet.  I live in a rural community and going to a brick and mortar is almost out of the question.

Okay, that paints a better picture.  You already know about Walden; other schools that offer an EdD specifically in K-12 Education Leadership include Jones International University, and Argosy University.  The EdD program from Fielding Graduate University is in Educational Leadership and Change, and is meant for a variety of educators, including in K-12.

None are cheap, though.  For that the only one out there, really, is the PhD in Curriculum and Instruction from New Mexico State University, where distance learning students get in state rates.  They require two weeks in the summer in Las Cruces, N.M. for three summers in a row, and they only let students start every other year, so I'm not sure if they'd work for you logistically, but you could ask them.  (They also have an EdD for K-12, which would be perfect, but they require weekends on campus as often as monthly, which I expect wouldn't work for you.)

-=Steve=-

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B.S., Info Sys, Charter Oak State College
M.A., Educational Tech Leadership, George Washington University
Doctor of Health Education, A.T. Still University, in progress

I value the input.  I wrestle with this subject in my head continually.  I can obtain another masters degree in special education, which would help my career both in terms of marketablity and actual day-to-day teaching.  It would also help me if I want to use my authorization and become a principal because I would understand the aspect of teaching special needs children in a more comprehensive way and it would make me a better administrator.  I can always get the Ed.D. later. I can always get the Ed.S. later for that matter.  I have followed this website for the last few months and respect the opinions of the people who frequent this forum.  I have even looked into online law education as a means of helping me become more marketable, but I am convinced that a non-ABA law degree wouldn't be worth the time and money (If others disagree please give me input - I've looked at Concord and Taft University for executive track law degrees).  As you can probably tell, I love being in education and I just like to keep moving forward.  With the economy being the way it is - I just don't know how to keep moving in a positive direction without too much financial burden.

If you're not planning on teaching college you could also consider Harrison Middleton University (one of my faves) which has an EdD I consider the most interesting available online, but that's just because I am so interested in their unique methodology.

 

 

Thanks for the advice Cajun.  I have looked at their website in the past and have brought it to the attention of another teacher.  I don't mind an academic challenge and their coursework appears to be diversified, which is another thing I am looking for.  Does anyone out there have any insight on the institution or can anyone tell me to steer clear.  I would look into either the Ed.D or the Doctor of Arts program.  The cost seems reasonable and the DETC accreditation doesn't bother me.  I just want to get some feedback before I jump into such a rigorous program.  This website has been of great value to me.  I kind of thought my dreams of obtaining a doctorate or a law degree were over before I found these forums.  I just want to spend my money wisely.

I know of two people who entered the program, one dropped out shortly after enrolling I think due to over commitment and the other is still pushing ahead and seems to be enjoying the process.  I do know that some of the coursework is actually discussions over the phone with your instructor over the topic you are studying and I'm sure a great deal of writing will be involved as well.  The good thing is that all of your research comes out of the Great Books library so you have a source on hand without going to the library over and over.  The bad thing is you have to buy the books, somewhere like $1,200 or so last I checked, they aren't inexpensive but then my MBA program had about $1,500 worth of books so I suppose it's almost par for the course.  I know if I ever get a doctorate they are my #1 choice. 

If I understand you correctly, one of the goals here is to have the option of expanding your ability to adjunct.  A degree from Harrison Middleton University won't help you, since they're nationally accredited, not regionally accredited.  It's too bad, because I agree that their doctoral programs look cool.

The only thing that a non-ABA JD is good for is if you want to practice law in California.  I wouldn't recommend it for anything else.  And I wouldn't recommend one of those "executive non-bar JD" programs for anyone since I think by definition they're trying to look like something that they're not.

-=Steve=-

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B.S., Info Sys, Charter Oak State College
M.A., Educational Tech Leadership, George Washington University
Doctor of Health Education, A.T. Still University, in progress

Steve, thank you for your insight. I would agree the law degree is probably never going to be cost effective for my particular career.  And if I'm going to spend thousands of dollars on a doctorate, I might as well get one that is regionally accredited since it would open many more doors.  If I would pursue a doctorate and had to go for the big money, I would probably have to choose between Walden, Capella, Northcentral University or Grand Canyon University.  I applied to the doctoral program at Walden and was accepted and ultimately chose not to pursue it.  That turned out to be a good thing, because they have added a few new programs that would be more interesting to me.  I have a friend who graduated with a masters from Capella in business and recommended the school highly.  I have only some internet reviews of which to base my decision concerning Northcentral or Grand Canyon.  Cajun and Steve, keep up your the work helping not only me, but others  you have helped through this website and discussion forum.

Steve's mostly right on the NA Harrison Middleton U.  The degree may not be accepted by a RA school.  Good luck on your search and let us know how everything turns out.  Just curious, what type of price range were you shopping for?  Texas ATM (A&M) has an online EdD that looks killer.

I was hoping for a program in the 300 - 400 dollars per credit range.  Walden is up to $700 a credit and to my knowledge has good reputation in academic community.  Capella is right around there as well.  North Central is 550 per credit and Grand Canyon is 770.  All of these are estimates and I could be off a few bucks per credit.  I would like to take one class at a time and not have to get a loan.  My school offers no tuition assistance, so it would be out of my pocket.  I do get pay increases for more education, but I'm getting to the point where it would take a long time for me to 'get my money back'.  I'll look into the Texas A & M program and see where it would take me.  Thanks for the tip!

Cajun, I want to thank you for your blog on Ashford University.  I live two hours from the Clinton, Iowa campus and my wife is looking into getting her MBA there.  Because of the prices I have just mentioned, I have looked into Ashford's Masters in Organizational Management as perhaps my best route to go.  Any advice anyone can give is appreciated.

SBarron:

I have looked into Ashford's Masters in Organizational Management as perhaps my best route to go.  Any advice anyone can give is appreciated.

It's a fine program, but I'm not sure which of the goals you've mentioned it would really help you reach.  Don't just do a degree to do one, do one that helps you achieve what you want to achieve.

-=Steve=-

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B.S., Info Sys, Charter Oak State College
M.A., Educational Tech Leadership, George Washington University
Doctor of Health Education, A.T. Still University, in progress

SBarron

I'm glad you enjoyed my blog.  I'm doing the Bellevue one now if you intend on keeping up.  Hey, what better way to spend a Saturday night right?

Anyhow the MAOM degree is a fine program, it has many of the same courses as the MBA but does not hammer you with that 6 month quantitative period that seems to eliminate so many would be MBA's.  I do have to ask what you would use it for though before I knew whether to recommend that program or not.  If you are wanting to pay as you go and are interested in a general managment degree Amberton University's Master of Science in Managerial Science would be a real winner too as it is in the neighborhood of $600 per class.  That's right, per class not per hour.  Probably one of the best bang for buck degrees out there if you're not getting an MBA.