MAC2809

5% chance.

Hi Lauren, is $75,000 in debt worth it?

Tuition and fees is estimated to be $79,000 for the Ed.D program. May I ask what your current position is in higher education if applicable. My coworkers want me to do a Ed.D but I was thinking a California State University due to the (really) high cost. I have only met one person with a Ed.D from USC (who happens to be an admin.) I am having a hard time rationalizing why I should pay that much for a doctorate when I can get one for less than $20,000.

Hello, Being from the West Coast- the prestige of the school isn't as important as it is in the east coast ( I have lived in both.) With that said, HGSE has many critical thinkers that are big players in educational academia. In California, UCLA is the majority of leading scholars that higher education schools use, especially ones that incorporate Critical Theories. Is the HGSE has "hard" to get into than say Harvard Law, kennedy, or HC- not at all. But for a lot of people, that isn't really a big deal.

They are two totally different areas. From what I have seen, most chancellors have a Ph.D as opposed to a JD or Ed.D. There is more regulation in the K-12 system because you are dealing with mostly minors as opposed to adults. It also depends where you want to begin- teaching/faculty or staff side? Sadly, many states are now right to work and charter schools are expanding at the K12 level. At the same time, colleges and universities are hiring a lot of adjunct professors to save money. I have seen adjunct professors wait over a decade before coming tenure track (if you only have a masters, the wait for a good full time teaching job may be never.) However, tenure professors have a lot of anonymity and usually highly paid. If you do decide to go that route, I highly suggest getting a Ph.D.

Hello, I am doing a ME.d in Higher Ed Admin and Policy. At the masters level, there isn't much difference. At the doctorate level you are trained at a much greater depth in research than in say a Ed.D. This allows you to work for think tanks and nonprofits as a researcher (Institute of Higher Edu Policy.) In addition, you can try your hand at some policy work with your state legislator or with a member of congress. However you would have to be an unpaid intern and get your foot in the door. Good luck on your endeavor.