Colorado Technical University

Is there a doctoral program in education/school counseling that I can afford?

I have a B.A. in Psychology, a M.S.Ed in special education, and 30 additional credits including NJ state certification as a school counselor, and courses in literacy. I am 54 with 32 years in public education and a child in college and am looking to earn a doctorate in education or school counseling but I have very limited funding. Most doctoral programs, in class and online, seem to accept only about 3 courses and then charge about 10-15K for the remaining coursework. On top of my son's college costs, this is impossible. I am looking for a university that would accept all 30 of my post-masters credits toward a doctorate and/or would exchange me teaching classes for tuition credit toward my doctorate. I also wonder if I can get any credit for my work experience. I am in the southern NJ area. Is there a way I can apply all I have already accomplished to abbreviate the time and reduce the cost of earning a doctorate?

Public Comments

1. Depends on whether you want an APA accredited school or not. If you do, chances are you will be going to a state university where you have to have competitive GRE scores, GPA, and they may offer you an assistantship (teaching or research), which will cover tuition and give you a monthly stipend. They will most likely NOT accept past credit, but only a few classes. If you go the non-accredited route, it will be faster (you'll get all kinds of credit recognized) but you won't get funding for the rest and you will have a harder time finding internship or a job, since most of these places are for-profit diploma mills.
2. Sadly, the answer is probably no. Rutger's isn't cheap. You could do an assistantship, which would cover it, but then you'd have to give up your job, which you probably don't want to do. Even so, most universities have a Residency requirement. I'm weighing whether or not to do a Doctorate myself, but I have these same problems