2 years of lost income for a psychologist is also a 6 figure number. So yes.
I'm curious as to what kind of salary you think someone who is going to school full time is making. 30k? 40k? Say you make 40k a year (which would be VERY generous) and maybe ONLY working 20 hours a week (which is what many assistantships ask). Say on top of that you are doing some research (but not as much as a PhD since you said they don't so whatever). Let's say like....10 hours a week. On top of that you have your required hours of practicum and externship. Maybe 15 hours a week. At this point you are technically working as much as a PhD for the most part for 50k a year. Your tuition costs 37k a year so that leaves you 13k for rent, food, books, transportation, etc... Say you are super lucky and you pay like $800 a month on rent and ALL utilities including cable, water, electricity, etc... That's $9,600 for that year. Now you're left with $3,400. Awesome. You can use that for food, books, whatever you need. That is the IDEAL situation.
I highly doubt that you will be able to make 50k while working only 20 hours a week. More than likely you'd need to work full time, and since you so casually said people can just do that ****, let's throw in an additional 20 hours of work. If you work full time then your total hours goes from 45 hours of work (NOT including classes) to 65 hours. Again, that is NOT including class time and time you spend writing papers and doing homework. Now, let's look at a PhD.
For a fully funded PhD, you will not pay tuition. You will usually get a stipend of around 20k (although I've seen it range from 12k-33k). Let's say you get the minimum stipend AND you get the tuition of the PsyD. Total that is a "salary" of about 49k per year. You will NOT have to work full time for your assistantship. It is usually 20 hours a week. If you teach it will probably be about the same (give or take depending on the amount of work the class takes). Let's add more for research since you're a PhD and not a PsyD so instead of 45 hours, you might be doing like 55? At this point you are working 10 hours less than a PsyD (minus classes and homework) for the same amount of money. Why? Because you don't need to work a full time job in order to pay for your expenses on top of the work you'd need to do in order to attain your doctorate. Minus tuition and rent as we did for the PsyD, you technically have $1,000 less for food and other expenses. This is true. However, you are also technically doing less work. And actually, if you are able to attend a fully funded doc program, it is likely your stipend will be significantly more than 12k. I will be getting 29k in my first year. That is now A LOT more in "salary" than if you were a PsyD because unless you are some kind of investment banker part time while in school, there's no way you could gain an annual salary of 66k while attending school full time. If you were able to achieve this, you are DEFINITELY an outlier.
More than likely you will be making something like 10-20k a year while working part time. Perhaps as a FFS (as I assume you'll have the credentials to do so) or, as I've often seen, as a nanny, bartender, or tutor. That average salary would then in fact put you in the hole. If you made even the top amount of 20k, that would only cover the larger half of your tuition. The other 30k in tuition, rent, and other expenses (if we assume you spend all $3,400 from previously) would be multiplied by 5 to give you $150,000 in debt. This will be money you would need to repay on a monthly basis, likely to the tune of $1,000 a month out of your salary while starting entry level. Compare that to the $0 of debt from a fully funded PhD program.
Just because there are 6 figure numbers in both options doesn't mean they are equivalent. Overall money spent may be the same to some degree, but you are doing more work for less money on top of over 100k in debt at the end for a PsyD vs $0 for a PhD.
-$150,000 <<<<<< $0 according to basically any math ever. the "<" means "suckier." Suckier is a clinical termed you can find in the DSM-V.
If OP has the means to pay that and not deal with the debt or if OP has an amazing plan that allows them to shoulder that burden, then dude. Go for it. Otherwise? There is no harm in applying next year. Others will say the program you referenced and that you went to has worse training. Lower match rates on APA. Etc... I'm not here to bash your training, bash your school, or take away from the great effort it took to be accepted into two APA accredited doctoral programs. Instead, I am here to discuss the math, which after reading this long winding chain, I had to outline for my own edification. Yes this is now a novel. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
- Just wanted to take a moment to thank those of you who always provide thoughtful, detailed (and brutally honest) responses on this forum. I appreciate the content on this thread in particular SO much. I have yet to be accepted into a PhD program (after a very heartbreaking interview round this season), but I know that the wait for a fully-funded, high quality program/education/experience in future application round(s) will certainly be worth it.
I went that route! And I think most other posters did too... it's not some wild hypothetical. It's hard to get into reputable and funded Ph.D. programs the first time around. During my first application cycle I received an offer from one partially-funded Ph.D. and two unfunded Ph.D. programs, both of which I turned down to go to a funded M.A. program and reapply.
