Cost of South College DBA program?

[DrMacLeod]

Can you speak to the quality of the program and the time it takes to complete each course? Is there guidance on the Dissertation phase or is it a Final Project?

I will speak about my experience thus far.  I have not made as much progress as I had intended due to other pursuits, but I can see that the path to "acceleration" is open.  There is a difference between what I had considered "CBE" based on my experience with WGU and my experience with South.

The difference between this program (at least the courses I've taken part in) and WGU (specifically the MBA program) is that instead of PA/OA assessments, South utilizes a formative/summative approach.  The courseware provides you with guidance and instruction, and there are times when you are directly reflecting on activities in the reading.  Contrast this to WGU, where if you have a suitable background (like IT or project management), you can knock out the PAs without ever looking at or referencing the courseware.  So it's not as "easy" to clear a course at South as it is at WGU.  Each course has a different number of formative and summative assessments, so it's hard to quantify the time commitment.

I believe the core courses are set up to help build your writing so that you are successful when it comes time for the dissertation.  The penultimate course focuses on research methods and analysis, and the dissertation is the final course, with a requirement of at least 100 pages.  The guidance for the research is to use fixed data sets for the dissertation (to avoid IRB hassles), and I believe the choice of qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods for the research is up to the student.

My interactions with faculty and staff have been great.  Nothing negative to report.  While the program is still going through growing pains, it is clear its intent is to make it a quality program.  For assessments, course instructors grade the work and give direct feedback.  Everyone has been receptive to my feedback, which is encouraging as a student.

A current student has a YouTube channel that gives a great breakdown of his experience since starting in July (he's already finished two courses).

https://youtu.be/JXTeb1C-i-0

Hopefully, this is helpful for those interested.  I would suggest joining the "official" FB group to ask questions and review what has already been asked and answered.  The program team also has fireside chats every once in a while to help answer questions.

[cc95]

Would you say for a person with a full time career and family, that this program can be completed in a realistic manner in an 18 month or less period or more like 24-36 months comfortably?

[DrMacLeod]

Would you say for a person with a full time career and family, that this program can be completed in a realistic manner in an 18 month or less period or more like 24-36 months comfortably?

Well, I am a person with a full-time career and family, and I plan on completing this in 12 months.  But that plan is based on having completed the WGU MBA in a single term, so I demonstrated (to myself most importantly) that I could succeed in these types of programs.  I know my drive and what I can accomplish.  I am fortunate to have a very flexible day-to-day schedule that allows me time to work on my studies during the day.  I am able to operate on four hours of sleep and am willing to wake up at 3:00 AM if necessary so that I don't sacrifice time from my family in the evenings.

Not everyone can work without a deadline or in isolation, which is how these CBE programs feel at times.  If you have experienced self-paced or CBE programs before and feel confident in your ability to see them through to completion, then I don't see 18 months or less being unreasonable.  One student has completed nine of the ten courses in one term.  I believe she may finish her dissertation before her term is up.  So anything is possible.

[ss20ts]

Well, I am a person with a full-time career and family, and I plan on completing this in 12 months.  But that plan is based on having completed the WGU MBA in a single term, so I demonstrated (to myself most importantly) that I could succeed in these types of programs.  I know my drive and what I can accomplish.  I am fortunate to have a very flexible day-to-day schedule that allows me time to work on my studies during the day.  I am able to operate on four hours of sleep and am willing to wake up at 3:00 AM if necessary so that I don't sacrifice time from my family in the evenings.

Not everyone can work without a deadline or in isolation, which is how these CBE programs feel at times.  If you have experienced self-paced or CBE programs before and feel confident in your ability to see them through to completion, then I don't see 18 months or less being unreasonable.  One student has completed nine of the ten courses in one term.  I believe she may finish her dissertation before her term is up.  So anything is possible.

I have seen many people struggle without deadlines and the isolation in grad programs more so than bachelor programs. Might because the work is more challenging. Might be because there's more work. Might be some burnout in there. Burnout is a really thing in academia. I'm at WGU right now and it's a VERY different CBE program than what I'm used to from UMPI. So I can see South College being different from WGU. It sounds like the program at South College is more like UMPI's grad program with the formative and summative writings. Makes sense as both programs are on Strut.

[DrMacLeod]

Well, I am a person with a full-time career and family, and I plan on completing this in 12 months.  But that plan is based on having completed the WGU MBA in a single term, so I demonstrated (to myself most importantly) that I could succeed in these types of programs.  I know my drive and what I can accomplish.  I am fortunate to have a very flexible day-to-day schedule that allows me time to work on my studies during the day.  I am able to operate on four hours of sleep and am willing to wake up at 3:00 AM if necessary so that I don't sacrifice time from my family in the evenings.

Not everyone can work without a deadline or in isolation, which is how these CBE programs feel at times.  If you have experienced self-paced or CBE programs before and feel confident in your ability to see them through to completion, then I don't see 18 months or less being unreasonable.  One student has completed nine of the ten courses in one term.  I believe she may finish her dissertation before her term is up.  So anything is possible.

I have seen many people struggle without deadlines and the isolation in grad programs more so than bachelor programs. Might because the work is more challenging. Might be because there's more work. Might be some burnout in there. Burnout is a really thing in academia. I'm at WGU right now and it's a VERY different CBE program than what I'm used to from UMPI. So I can see South College being different from WGU. It sounds like the program at South College is more like UMPI's grad program with the formative and summative writings. Makes sense as both programs are on Strut.

The pre-requisite for entry into South's EdD/DBA program is a Master's degree. I imagine prospective students would be familiar with Master's level work and writing, especially compared to a Bachelor's program.  

Aside from the work, many students going through traditional online programs rely on the "Sunday at 11:59 PM" deadline to get the motivation to complete their school work.  With CBE, all of a sudden, that weekly deadline is gone, and being given full autonomy over getting your work done and turned in takes a different level of motivation.

I also wanted to add some additional context to my previous posts.  I completed my first Bachelor's and Master's degrees in a traditional online format in the mid-2000s.  Even then, I was typically taking four classes per term while working full time, so I have always been somewhat of an "accelerator" when it comes to learning.  Everyone has different styles of learning, and heavy course loads aren't for everyone.  My advice to those interested in accelerating the South CBE program: If you have never excelled with consistently heavy course loads in traditional learning programs or have never accelerated through a CBE program, I wouldn't start a CBE doctoral program with the sole intention of accelerating.

[cc95]

I did my MBA at WGU as well, as well as other online graduate level and professional coursework. I also have 5 kids, a sick parent, a wife (who's graduated with the DHA from VUL, btw)and a full time job, so trying to gauge the commitment before diving in. Interested in the DBA but only if I can do it fully immersed for 18months or less.

[bjcheung77]

It's going to vary wildly for everyone as their commitments, energy, time management, and so on are significantly different... 18 months is the goal post everyone should shoot for (or faster if you have absolutely nothing to do and have plenty of energy, and awesome time management), if you can get it done faster, great... for those who can't, then shoot for the 24 months as that's a 4th and final session it should take. Set a goal for 3 sessions, but be happy you can finish in 4, either way, you're saving plenty over non-CBE options.