Searching for a doctorate program in technology is hard. Locally (within a two hour drive from my home), there is a graduate program in computer science, and computer engineering, but I’ve been looking for a more overall IT/IS type degree. After searching, quit a bit, I thought I’d share my findings.
I completed my Master’s degree in Information Technology from Capella. It was a decent way for me to get it done. Just like now, there were no local schools that had this kind of degree. Using their calculator for total cost of the program, mine came to $104,000. I stopped looking at that point.
When I was looking for my Master’s program a little over 10 years ago, Nova had the reputation as a diploma mill. I’m not sure if it was a correct assumption, but that’s what I was told. Looking at them now, they come across a lot better. They have a rather large university in Ft. Lauderdale Florida, and a lot of interesting programs. The cost for a PhD in IS was going to run around $75,000, which was better than $100k+, but still pricey. They also require two visits per semester to campus, for a total of 15 trips over the course of a three year program. I like this idea in an online program, but financially, it was going to add another $2000 per semester, and I’d have to miss at least one day of work twice a semester. It was the overall expense that kept me looking more…
On the surface this school looked more promising. Their Doctor of Computer Science appeared to cover the more general IT stuff with the concentration in Enterprise Information Systems. The program appeared to run around $60,000, and required a total of five visits to Colorado over the course of the degree. Colorado is closer to where I live, and the hotel would be cheaper than in Florida, so those five trips would cost much less. They also provide the textbooks for the courses, so I wouldn’t have that expense as well. Digging deeper into this school, I found out that CTU is a for-profit school, which alone wasn’t a deal breaker for me…but reading reviews, I found that all their faculty was adjunct, and that sometimes teachers didn’t use the book if they thought it was bad. A few reviews did paint this school as a diploma mill, but they are regionally accredited. I thought I’d keep searching.
I had never heard of DSU before, but found they had an online program for a DSc in IS. DSU is a state university in South Dakota, which at least makes it look more respectable than a for-profit school. Searching the internet, it appears that they are fairly well known as a technical school. It was these factors, along with the price tag of around $37,000 for out-of-state tuition, that made me stop looking. I’d even make the trip to South Dakota if I had to for that price, but DSU does not require visits.
Hopefully this helps someone. I plan to apply before the end of this year to start in Fall 2015.