PhD for as little as $1290,66 p/a at a top 150 school.

[KSoul]

Respect your experiences and the difficulties you've seen. Our family has moved worldwide (non-military) while getting paid by US companies. Whether attending a university in that country or not seems like a non-factor in the OP's suggestion. However, I would not want to promote that the process is easy but doable. Picking the right company would be key. My sister works for P&G, and they promote the ability to travel the world while in a remote position. They start with one month, which expands per your interest and aspirations. She's lived in Germany (1 year), Poland (8 months), France (4 months),  and soon-to-be Singapore (goal 1 year), while her pay comes from the US.

Moving so one can attend a college is much different than an employer relocating you.

---

Thank you everyone for sharing! This is great information!

I believe UP (University of Pretoria) offers a few postgraduate diplomas completely online, but I'm not aware of other PUBLIC universities offering full degrees.

University of Pretoria is where Elon Musk went before he decided to go to school in Canada (then transferred to UPenn). The current richest person in the world went to a South African University.

He is from South Africa. He was born into a rich family. I wouldn't say he's the poster child for the university.

Trying to see your point...

'Moving so one can attend a college is much different than an employer relocating you.'

No one is getting relocated in my example, so not sure what this even means. In all the locations my sister and I have lived, we could have attended the local universities (under the premise they have an online program open to foreigners) while earning income from the US. The OP suggested moving to a foreign country (SA) while earning income in their local country while working remotely. Multiple examples have been given, and you keep trying to infuse your unfortunate personal roadblocks as a universal fact to the difficulties of pulling it off. Plenty of options are available, and people are pulling them off. I don't know your industry, and you might be more limited in options, so this may be our disconnect. 

An additional reference point for me is my father, who has attended universities in Germany and China while working remotely, so I come from a position of belief that most things are possible with enough effort. We often hear how hard or impossible things are; my father says that usually, the person and not the obstacle stops them from pulling it off.

[bjcheung77]

Here is the list of American degrees usually accepted:
https://mb.usaf.ac.za/united-states-of-america/

Qualification:
High School Graduation Diploma accompanied by certificate of eligibility for admission to study at any US university with a valid senior college accreditation issued by any of the following accreditation bodies:

Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS)

This accreditation body is no more, they've canned them... I would guess any USDOE and/or CHEA recognized accreditation agency should work, but to be on the safe side, maybe email or contact UNISA to be extra careful. It's great that they'll accept NA institutions, so someone can go from NA associates and bachelors, up to their masters or doctoral degrees.

[Personherebb9]

Here is the list of American degrees usually accepted:
https://mb.usaf.ac.za/united-states-of-america/

Qualification:
High School Graduation Diploma accompanied by certificate of eligibility for admission to study at any US university with a valid senior college accreditation issued by any of the following accreditation bodies:

Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS)

This accreditation body is no more, they've canned them...  I would guess any USDOE and/or CHEA recognized accreditation agency should work, but to be on the safe side, maybe email or contact UNISA to be extra careful.  It's great that they'll accept NA institutions, so someone can go from NA associates and bachelors, up to their masters or doctoral degrees.

I would just like to add to this. Similar to the USA, you cannot email the university itself to find out if they will accept your foreign degree. This process should be done through SAQA, as they are the only foreign evaluation service that could possibly help you in regards to whether or not your degree will be accepted.

That being said, SAQA has very strict policies and will refuse to give you a preliminary evaluation. Meaning, you cannot email them asking "Will you accept a degree from (insert accrediting body)". I've tried emailing them in regards to the evaluation of TESU/SNHU/PUG degrees, but they always return the same emailing, stating that the only way they can properly determine South African equivalencies, they would need the official diploma and transcript for a formal evaluation. For that reason, you can't really "precheck" whether or not your degree will be accepted.

As I've said though, SAQA has been known to grant degree evaluations even from NA universities such as UoPeople, without any problems. So I wouldn't worry too much about it.

[jfitzg8876]

One important caveat with going this route, be prepared to spend a couple hundred $$$ (U.S.) and wait several months for SAQA to actually verify your degrees. I submitted late June and am still waiting, and have spent about $250 US on fees so far just with SAQA.

[Personherebb9]

One important caveat with going this route, be prepared to spend a couple hundred $$$ (U.S.) and wait several months for SAQA to actually verify your degrees. I submitted late June and am still waiting, and have spent about $250 US on fees so far just with SAQA.

Yeah no, please know that South Africa IS NOT America, here you don't get fast replies nor do they care about "customer service" enough to actually improve their service. I mean I got my drivers license in January and I'm STILL waiting for my driver's license card. I've been driving with my temporary license, because they're so slow at doing literally anything.

So yeah do be aware that SAQA will take ALL the time they want and as a rule of thumb, its no use trying to contact them about the time that its taking. Just pay for the fast evaluation if you want it quick.

Also please post the results of your SAQA evaluation, once you have them?

[jfitzg8876]

One important caveat with going this route, be prepared to spend a couple hundred $$$ (U.S.) and wait several months for SAQA to actually verify your degrees. I submitted late June and am still waiting, and have spent about $250 US on fees so far just with SAQA.

Yeah no, please know that South Africa IS NOT America, here you don't get fast replies nor do they care about "customer service" enough to actually improve their service. I mean I got my drivers license in January and I'm STILL waiting for my driver's license card. I've been driving with my temporary license, because they're so slow at doing literally anything.

So yeah do be aware that SAQA will take ALL the time they want and as a rule of thumb, its no use trying to contact them about the time that its taking. Just pay for the fast evaluation if you want it quick.

Also please post the results of your SAQA evaluation, once you have them?

What fast evaluation? That was never an option on their site.

[jfitzg8876]

One important caveat with going this route, be prepared to spend a couple hundred $$$ (U.S.) and wait several months for SAQA to actually verify your degrees. I submitted late June and am still waiting, and have spent about $250 US on fees so far just with SAQA.

Yeah no, please know that South Africa IS NOT America, here you don't get fast replies nor do they care about "customer service" enough to actually improve their service. I mean I got my drivers license in January and I'm STILL waiting for my driver's license card. I've been driving with my temporary license, because they're so slow at doing literally anything.

So yeah do be aware that SAQA will take ALL the time they want and as a rule of thumb, its no use trying to contact them about the time that its taking. Just pay for the fast evaluation if you want it quick.

Also please post the results of your SAQA evaluation, once you have them?

So an update as requested. The whole process took a little over 6 months, and they managed to completely screw it up and wont respond to emails (what a surprise). I tasked them with evaluating 3 M.S. degrees (from two separate schools) and two doctorates. I provided all transcripts and even paid a couple of hundred $$ US for some third party transcript verification service they wanted out of the UK. The final results got the doctorates right, but they only evaluated one M.S. and applied the major from one school to the other school which doesnt offer that major. Then they evaluated my B.S. which was included in one of the transcripts but I did not request it to be evaluated. So I paid for an evaluation of 2 doctorates and 3 masters degrees and got evaluation results for 2 doctorates, 1 masters degree (at the wrong school), and a bachelors degree. Of course they dont respond to emails so I will spend another 6 months trying to get this fixed. Btw, during this process that I started in July of 2022, I was rejected by the schools I applied to for not having the SAQA certs, so theres that as well... All in all, if I could get my money back I would, but I dont see that happening, and I sure as heck dont recommend anyone bother with this joke of service, the low price tag on SA universities isnt worth it.

[Kalas]

I had never considered Africa as a source for a degree but it sounds like UCT could make sense if someone is willing to deal with a country that gives Thailand's lackadaisical approach to customer service and general competency look spotless by comparison. Even when taking the costs of proper evaluations, airfare, accommodations, the degree itself and all other expenses into account it still presents a value opportunity for someone willing to put up with all of the nonsense that comes with trying to do business in Africa*. From what I'm reading here the total cost is roughly US$30k if you're spending $1k/mo on living expenses there for 2 years, plus maintaining whatever residence you have in your own country. That is reasonable, but not exactly dirt cheap, for a doctorate from a school with this ranking. It certainly could represent a value proposition for the right person, but you're not getting a doctorate for $2600 out the door the way the thread title could lead one to infer.

Now if we're going to create a super optimistic scenario for a guy that is finishing undergrad now, completes the ENEB MBA a couple months later and then applies directly to a doctorate here before getting into the trappings of adult life, I could see that making an awful lot of sense to get a doctorate on the cheap.

Because UCT doesn't appear to have a concise list of the doctoral programs they offer (at least I didn't find with a couple minutes of clicking around their website) I ended up coming across this site through Google:  https://free-apply.com/en/articles/count...7/degree/3 It has an ad (at least I think it's an ad) offering a 100% discount on first year tuition. That link leads to the Vistula Group of Universities (whatever that is, I have no idea) but it might be of interest to someone that reads this thread and hasn't completely scrapped the idea due to the previous post.

*That means massive amounts of corruption and incompetence screwing you over at every opportunity for those of you fortunate enough to have never had the experience.

[IReallyNeedADegree]

UNISA has been talked about before, they're an awesome program and length of the program is comparable to ones here, the pricing also has shot up for non South African permanent residents or citizens.  They're a great option, but I would also keep options open in other countries as well.  I've kept them in my list of doctoral program options too...

do you mean that UNISA is hackable? How fast could one get an online degree from UNISA if it is comparable to the degrees commonly spoken about on this forum?

[KSoul]

UNISA has been talked about before, they're an awesome program and length of the program is comparable to ones here, the pricing also has shot up for non South African permanent residents or citizens.  They're a great option, but I would also keep options open in other countries as well.  I've kept them in my list of doctoral program options too...

do you mean that UNISA is hackable? How fast could one get an online degree from UNISA if it is comparable to the degrees commonly spoken about on this forum?

After carefully examining the detailed feedback in the sister forum degreeinfo, I cannot classify UNISA as hackable since there is no way to expedite the process, and the program typically takes several years to complete a doctorate. Additionally, I have found only a handful of success stories, which leads me to speculate whether the program's affordability makes it easier to abandon at some point.

If you're searching for a potential alternative, I highly recommend exploring Stellenbosch University. Following thorough research, I applied and received acceptance into their doctoral program. My plan was to accomplish my doctorate with VUL and then subsequently return to Stellenbosch in late 2024. Their application process is straightforward and their communication is excellent, with an average response time of two days.