Can I justify a PhD?

[Bella72]

Hi, looking for some perspective....

i currently work in a senior administrative role in higher education, following many years in the corporate world. I love working in higher education, butI have been told that under new policies I should enroll in a PhD if I want to continue  in my current role. I’ve been looking into suitable part-time PhD programs, and it looks like it will cost me between $60k and $100k over 4 years.

i am in my 40s with two young kids and a hefty mortgage (I live in nyc). We’ve also just come out of a period with unexpected financial costs, which burned through a large amount of our savings. I would need to take out loans to pay for a PhD (the university I work at doesn’t pay for doctoral degrees for employees). It’s not like I’m going to get a significant pay raise (if any) from earning the PhD. I just don’t know how I justify the cost of this, yet if I don’t, it means I’ll be demoted in terms of responsibilities and title (although my current salary will remain the same). It will also limit my opportunities going forward.

Much as I want to follow this path, i don’t see how it can be a financially responsible decision for my family.  Am I missing something?

[ZeChocMoose]

17 minutes ago, Bella72 said:

Hi, looking for some perspective....

i currently work in a senior administrative role in higher education, following many years in the corporate world. I love working in higher education, butI have been told that under new policies I should enroll in a PhD if I want to continue  in my current role. I’ve been looking into suitable part-time PhD programs, and it looks like it will cost me between $60k and $100k over 4 years.

i am in my 40s with two young kids and a hefty mortgage (I live in nyc). We’ve also just come out of a period with unexpected financial costs, which burned through a large amount of our savings. I would need to take out loans to pay for a PhD (the university I work at doesn’t pay for doctoral degrees for employees). It’s not like I’m going to get a significant pay raise (if any) from earning the PhD. I just don’t know how I justify the cost of this, yet if I don’t, it means I’ll be demoted in terms of responsibilities and title (although my current salary will remain the same). It will also limit my opportunities going forward.

Much as I want to follow this path, i don’t see how it can be a financially responsible decision for my family.  Am I missing something?

One of the perks of working in higher ed admin and doing the PhD part-time is getting the degree paid for!   So this is really unfortunate that your university doesn't cover tuition remission for doctoral studies.  I would try to negotiate with your boss about having your department/unit cover at least some of the costs.  I also would ask around to your colleagues what other people have done in your place.  I would be surprised if people took out loans to cover everything - that seems like a bad financial decision especially if you are not going to get a significant boost in pay. 

I also think doing a part-time doctoral degree in 4 years is not realistic unless it is an EdD... the median time to degree of the part-time higher ed PhD students that I know is around 8-10 years.  People tend to really slow down once courses and comps are done as work responsibilities become more pressing and dissertation deadlines seem easier to push back.

Where are you getting the $60-100K cost estimate?  Is that at private universities?  I would look at public universities  - CUNY Graduate Center (https://www.gc.cuny.edu/home) seems to have reasonably priced tuition ($545 per credit for 2018-19 rates for part-time PhD students so around $6500 per year assuming 6 credits per semester.  The fees look like they around $100-200 per semester.).  They don't have a higher ed PhD but they have an urban education PhD that perhaps could work.