ARTICLE: PhDs in debt

Started by psychwhy
This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
Get help with your application

Use all the free resources available to you from SDN: articles, guides, expert advising, forums discussions, and school research.

Browse articles Compare schools My application plan Read Interview Feedback
Practice for interviews Ask an Advisor
psychwhy

psychwhy

Simply disillusioned
10+ Year Member
15+ Year Member
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
Very interesting article published today in Inside Higher Ed:
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2006/12/08/gradstu

Apparently the "Jon Snow model" of conventional programs allowing students to graduate debt free is disintegrating fast -- if it hasn't already!

So if the "financial factor" is removed what difference will it make which academic path you take to becoming a psychologist? Regardless, you will begin a career saddled with a debt that your profession doesn't provide adequate earning potential to overcome.

Hmm ...
 
psychwhy said:
Very interesting article published today in Inside Higher Ed:
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2006/12/08/gradstu

Apparently the "Jon Snow model" of conventional programs allowing students to graduate debt free is disintegrating fast -- if it hasn't already!

So if the "financial factor" is removed what difference will it make which academic path you take to becoming a psychologist? Regardless, you will begin a career saddled with a debt that your profession doesn't provide adequate earning potential to overcome.

Hmm ...
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm definitely feeling the pinch. In my experience, most graduate schools will entice you to come to their school by giving out hefty entrance scholarships. After that, you soon find that you're pretty much on your own.

Loans suck - If there is one piece of advice I can give to anyone out there thinking of doing a PhD, it is to take a good long look at your financial situation and whether you can really afford to do it. When I began my program I was under the misguided impression that more education = a better paying job. This is not necessarily the case, and if you sit down and do the math, you might find that you are much better off (financially) doing something else.

Oh well... live and learn.😎
 
As a current applicant, these types of posts kill me. It isn't that they are unaccurate, they kill me because they are. I have a second degree in computers and am a network administrator. I could go elsewhere with no more education and most likely make more than I ever will as a Psychologist... but I don't think I would be as happy.

Please, let me at least get through grad school without adding debt. Honestly, if I have to pay for most of my grad school, I may not be able to go.

For you guys who have been there and done that, did they tell you that the scholarships were for your full time there or did they bait and switch almost? I just am not sure how up-front they are about that.
 
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
Irish ...

It's more of a "don't ask, don't tell" situation.

My internship class was a rarified situation as the three of us were all mid-career changers/elevators. One of my colleagues was leaving pharmaceutical sales saying he was tired of "whoring" ... but he left with a tidy nest egg so we never really worried about him making ends meet on an intern's salary. (We assumed he paid his tuition out of pocket! 🙂 )

The other intern and I, however, bought into the myth that we were going to advance our careers and earning potentials.

In my case, I understood at the outset that I was going to have to take out loans, but as I already had a Master's degree I didn't expect I would need the customary 5 - 7 years to earn my doctorate.

Then you encounter what I can only call "Just one more thing" phenomenon.

It always seems there is "just one more thing" that needs to be paid for or some facet of the program that hiccups during your studies. I lost a practicum and it took nearly a year to secure a second one. There are more than a few stories of students who believe they have completed all program requirements only to hear "just one more thing" needs to be done ... a course, a dissertation section, etc. I was ill advised to take "completion" sections for my dissertation while I was on practicum, only to learn later that even though my dissertation was stalled I didn't need to "hold" my enrollment because I was registered for practicum. (The University did refund a fraction of those charges but wouldn't go higher stating that I "bore some responsibility for knowing the procedures.")

Oh, and having your dissertation stall is not a wholly uncommon experience!

My situation may have been extreme but my initial plan of completion in three years became six.

And the "just one more thing" syndrome doesn't end when you complete the program ... my indebted intern colleague and I are both sweating out the final awarding of our degrees and offical transcripts. You get to the point when you just don't believe anything anymore until you see it in writing ... in triplicate!
 
This is really a continuation of the Is it really worthy of all this effort? thread. Increasingly, (for me anyway) the answer seems to be "no."

The decision to become a psychologist these days has, perhaps, become a more soul-searching process than deciding whether to devote one's life to the priesthood. I'm not sure which is the more self-abnegating, self-flagellating profession. Both require an unambivalent sense of calling -- especially for psychology given the mountain of coin needed to get to the finish line.

It's crucial that prospective students in the field identify their motives for pursuing this degree; a task far easier said than done, especially for prospective students in their 20s and early 30s. With the financial stakes so risky, the vanity/status-seeking element (someday I'll be "Dr.") must really be teased out of the decision process. You gotta REALLY want it.
 
perhaps this is why i hope to secure a teaching post, a research grant at said teaching post, and do some clinical stuff on the side. a good handful of professors I know do this.
 
PsiKo said:
The decision to become a psychologist these days has, perhaps, become a more soul-searching process than deciding whether to devote one's life to the priesthood. I'm not sure which is the more self-abnegating, self-flagellating profession. Both require an unambivalent sense of calling -- especially for psychology given the mountain of coin needed to get to the finish line.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure if I agree with the "mountain of coin" statement. Certainly depends on the path you take and how frugally you are willing to live while in school or if you have a spouse making money etc. I know several current/recent grads who have "escaped" with little or no debt from Ph.D programs. Perhaps that is becoming less common. Location of your university would have a big impact as well (e.g., rural vs. urban).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

futureapppsy2
Article about autism treatment malpractice in the NYT
Replies
3
Views
1K
ClinicalABA
ClinicalABA
E
SDN Article: Writing an Effective Letter of Recommendation in the Post-GenAI World
Replies
0
Views
402
Emil Chuck, PhD
E
cara susanna
Article on IFS causing harm
Replies
16
Views
3K
Sanman
Sanman
H
SDN Article: Practical Perspectives for Navigating the Admissions Process
Replies
0
Views
1K
Heidi Fuchs
H
DynamicDidactic
"Article Submission open for Original Article(s) if (1) plagiarism of the article is less than 15%"
Replies
7
Views
1K
Therapist4Chnge
T