** This petition will be sent to the dean(s) on 7/15. **
On July 1, 2015, we received notification that the tuition pricing for the dissertation courses will be rising in September. Although enrolling in DIS 5 and beyond was more than many of us expected to pay for when we began the program, at least those were only one credit courses, meaning that our tuition money was reduced.
NCU listed some benefits in the email that are nice, assuming that we have the time to participate in such events and that the dissertation chairs abide by the revised dissertation handbook, but the biggest issue, the response time, is not in that list. Despite being required to send in check-ins every 7 calendar days, our chairs have 21 business days to return milestone documents. That means, on average, we receive three reviews per course, and our chairs have over three times the amount of time that we do to communicate with us. That alone hinders completion. Also since dissertation chairs now hold all of the power--including what they want to see in the dissertation, even if it violates what is included in the template/handbook--the other resources that the school offers are largely unhelpful to doctoral students. In order to graduate, we must do what our chairs want us to do which may or may not be similar to what the university documents state.
Furthermore, the university continues to sell the changes like this as “completing a timely dissertation and earning your degree,” but if you were truly committed to having us complete a timely dissertation and complete our degrees, you would put the tuition money to good use, investing in more full-time dissertation chairs so that you could lower the response times. Specifically all dissertation chairs, too, should be required to send feedback within 7 calendar days. Otherwise, at certain points in this process, we are left floundering about because we do not have the feedback necessary to make progress. If the response times for dissertation chairs matched what we are required to do (7 calendar days), while we might pay the full price for four dissertation courses, we would have the chance at completing our degrees without needing DIS 5 and beyond. We could also reconcile paying the additional tuition money with the fact that we would receive timely feedback, something that is absolutely critical to complete a “timely dissertation.”
Therefore, we request that you reconsider the tuition increase or offer us the resources, namely in the form of weekly feedback from our dissertation chairs on all milestone documents, to allow us to achieve our goals.
Updates
July 14, 2015
I have spent the last few nights reading through your stories about the inconsistent feedback from chairs and it is clear that we are all trapped in the same broken cycle. Behind the scenes I am compiling your experiences into a formal report to prove that this tuition hike is unjust while the fundamental problems with our dissertation progress remain ignored.
July 14, 2015
Seeing this kind of momentum confirms that I am not just imagining the frustration of being stuck in this cycle of debt and delays. Knowing that so many others are fighting the same struggle makes me feel less isolated as I try to finish my degree.
Reached 100 supporters
July 14, 2015
71 Comments
With the lack of interaction between the dissertation committee and the student, it would be unethical to charge a student for three credit hours. There is not three credit hours worth of interaction between the committee and the student.
It is particularly troubling that the chairs have 21 days to respond to our milestone documents. I agree that this process alone will extend the time it takes to complete the dissertation process.
Existing students should be grandfathered. This appears simply a move to drive more revenue. There was deal made when I joined. Moving the course work which has not changed fron 1 credit hour to 3 was simply to justify the cost incase. I heard peopme are considering approaching the accrediting bodies.
We should be locked in as to the agreement we started. The current system changes can happen every month. There is no current contract-they can change requirements and cost. The requirements of the chairs to inform us of information is not reasonable at 3 weeks time frames.
I may not be able to complete my dissertation, heading into my 6th dissertation course, as I'm about tapped out on financial aid and can't afford to self-pay the remainder of my doctoral program.
The real issue here, is not the increased pricing, but the turnaround time of the dissertation members to provide timely feedback. When faculty are given 21 days to provide feedback and there are 3 faculty members, the students receive a limited amount of feedback in one course. This turnaround time is simply not acceptable. Clearly, the faculty members are fully aware of the dates that the students must turn in their assignments, why can't the turnaround time be limited to 7 days? If this is done, then the tuition increase after 4 dissertation courses maybe justified. The faculty should be held to the same high quality standards that they expect of the students. If we were in traditional brick and mortar school, we would simply go down the hallway and request feedback from our chair and probably would not be as worried about the feedback process which clearly is a concern for the current students.
NCU is only concerned with profit not student welfare.
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** This petition will be sent to the dean(s) on 7/15. **
On July 1, 2015, we received notification that the tuition pricing for the dissertation courses will be rising in September. Although enrolling in DIS 5 and beyond was more than many of us expected to pay for when we began the program, at least those were only one credit courses, meaning that our tuition money was reduced.
NCU listed some benefits in the email that are nice, assuming that we have the time to participate in such events and that the dissertation chairs abide by the revised dissertation handbook, but the biggest issue, the response time, is not in that list. Despite being required to send in check-ins every 7 calendar days, our chairs have 21 business days to return milestone documents. That means, on average, we receive three reviews per course, and our chairs have over three times the amount of time that we do to communicate with us. That alone hinders completion. Also since dissertation chairs now hold all of the power--including what they want to see in the dissertation, even if it violates what is included in the template/handbook--the other resources that the school offers are largely unhelpful to doctoral students. In order to graduate, we must do what our chairs want us to do which may or may not be similar to what the university documents state.
Furthermore, the university continues to sell the changes like this as “completing a timely dissertation and earning your degree,” but if you were truly committed to having us complete a timely dissertation and complete our degrees, you would put the tuition money to good use, investing in more full-time dissertation chairs so that you could lower the response times. Specifically all dissertation chairs, too, should be required to send feedback within 7 calendar days. Otherwise, at certain points in this process, we are left floundering about because we do not have the feedback necessary to make progress. If the response times for dissertation chairs matched what we are required to do (7 calendar days), while we might pay the full price for four dissertation courses, we would have the chance at completing our degrees without needing DIS 5 and beyond. We could also reconcile paying the additional tuition money with the fact that we would receive timely feedback, something that is absolutely critical to complete a “timely dissertation.”
Therefore, we request that you reconsider the tuition increase or offer us the resources, namely in the form of weekly feedback from our dissertation chairs on all milestone documents, to allow us to achieve our goals.
Updates
July 14, 2015
I have spent the last few nights reading through your stories about the inconsistent feedback from chairs and it is clear that we are all trapped in the same broken cycle. Behind the scenes I am compiling your experiences into a formal report to prove that this tuition hike is unjust while the fundamental problems with our dissertation progress remain ignored.
July 14, 2015
Seeing this kind of momentum confirms that I am not just imagining the frustration of being stuck in this cycle of debt and delays. Knowing that so many others are fighting the same struggle makes me feel less isolated as I try to finish my degree.
Reached 100 supporters
July 14, 2015
71 Comments
The goal to have students complete their degree within the 4 dissertation courses should be a priority. It is impractical and unethical to extend it further when it is within your scope to ensure effectiveness of the program in order to make this happen.
With the lack of interaction between the dissertation committee and the student, it would be unethical to charge a student for three credit hours. There is not three credit hours worth of interaction between the committee and the student.
It is particularly troubling that the chairs have 21 days to respond to our milestone documents. I agree that this process alone will extend the time it takes to complete the dissertation process.
Existing students should be grandfathered. This appears simply a move to drive more revenue. There was deal made when I joined. Moving the course work which has not changed fron 1 credit hour to 3 was simply to justify the cost incase. I heard peopme are considering approaching the accrediting bodies.
We should be locked in as to the agreement we started. The current system changes can happen every month. There is no current contract-they can change requirements and cost. The requirements of the chairs to inform us of information is not reasonable at 3 weeks time frames.
I may not be able to complete my dissertation, heading into my 6th dissertation course, as I'm about tapped out on financial aid and can't afford to self-pay the remainder of my doctoral program.
The real issue here, is not the increased pricing, but the turnaround time of the dissertation members to provide timely feedback. When faculty are given 21 days to provide feedback and there are 3 faculty members, the students receive a limited amount of feedback in one course. This turnaround time is simply not acceptable. Clearly, the faculty members are fully aware of the dates that the students must turn in their assignments, why can't the turnaround time be limited to 7 days? If this is done, then the tuition increase after 4 dissertation courses maybe justified. The faculty should be held to the same high quality standards that they expect of the students. If we were in traditional brick and mortar school, we would simply go down the hallway and request feedback from our chair and probably would not be as worried about the feedback process which clearly is a concern for the current students.
NCU is only concerned with profit not student welfare.
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The goal to have students complete their degree within the 4 dissertation courses should be a priority. It is impractical and unethical to extend it further when it is within your scope to ensure effectiveness of the program in order to make this happen.