Northcentral Tuition Increase

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.

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.

delete Thank you for starting this petition! It describes the situation exactly as I see it. I am going to be starting DIS 4 with no CP approved yet. Part of the problem is the 21 day turn around - and also that my chair took more than 21 days during DIS 3. So I am basically being charged tuition to sit and wait. If tuition has to rise, then I agree that turn around time MUST be lessened! Please hear what your students are saying NCU!

Thank you for starting this petition! It describes the situation exactly as I see it. I am going to be starting DIS 4 with no CP approved yet. Part of the problem is the 21 day turn around - and also that my chair took more than 21 days during DIS 3. So I am basically being charged tuition to sit and wait. If tuition has to rise, then I agree that turn around time MUST be lessened! Please hear what your students are saying NCU!

Northcentral University honor the agreement that dissertation courses after the ones on our course plan would be offered at a reduced rate. I also agree that a shorter turn around time on milestone documents would hasten the completion of dissertations. I have had a good experience thus far and would hate to not be able to complete my dissertation due to a tripling of tuition.

As much as I have benefitted from this program. I feel like I have gotten false advertising. How classes were scheduled, due dates, and now the dissertation classes have been changed during my time here. Current students should be held to the old policy (that they agreed to) and new students should have these new rules.

This increase in tuition is not justified. Once you complete the first four courses, there should only be a minimal fee to continue as this program has become a money making drain for Ph.D. students.

Thank you for putting this online. I agree with what is being said. The old model I signed on to in 2010 worked conceptually because the courses along the way were to specifically build to the dissertation phase. Of course the dissertation phase is the most individualized and requires the most attention . . . that shouldn't be a surprise to NCU. However, NCU promised fewer credits than other programs because of their design and the incorporation of dissertation components earlier in the process. The continuous registration credit was reasonable to be "finishing up." Now through all the changes it seems the coursework and faculty have been disconnected from courses to dissertation. If the components are entirely new and being built in the DIS courses, it's not fair to those who have been in the program pre-change in the process. I agree the review time for each component needs to be shorter than 21 days (just like in the classes vs. DIS courses). This would logically make the final doc review shorter than 21 days. The final doc should not have to be substantially edited or revised if the parts were approved along the way. Otherwise, it just gurantees additional courses. If you submit something for review in week 3, hear back in week 6, and respond in week 8 . . . you won't even know if you hit the mark until week 11 and that's when you get bill for next class.

While my chair has been very responsive other members of my committee have used their full 21 days before responding to submissions. Since the amount of work we submit is different from a regular course with weekly submissions, I believe that the reduced tuition fees were justified. Charging more for the later courses is not reasonable because we don't have control over how timely our work is returned to us for corrections.

I am tired of increases and nothing to show for it. The 21 day turn around for the chairs has been the LARGEST obstacle for my completion.

This should be the last stage for considering tuition increases. Have we not paid enough through regular academic courses?

The premise that those in Diss 5 and above have been getting a discount is just wrong. We are paying around $900 for the one credit earned for ongoing work. The advisor reviews were covered by the dissertation fees charged (under the older system that was there when some of us started) during courses one through four. Are we going to get three times the value since the University declared the courses are worth three credits? Of course not. Charging us for one credit is enough. Grandfather those who are already in the program. It's the only right thing to do. Well, that or give us three times the value.

Since posting my comment, I came across this article: http://ncu.edu/blog/ncu%E2%80%99s-research-team-awarded-best-paper-at-2015-distance-learning-administration-conference I want to first congratulate the research team involved with the best paper--that's impressive! As I read that these students in the voluntary program had access to a chair "four hours per week over the duration of a year," I wondered what would happen if we all had access to this service; it seems, based on the results outlined here, that our completion times would decrease and the graduation rates would likely increase. I really hope that NCU will take what they have learned from this study, particularly that chairs must be involved in the process in order for students to make progress with their dissertations and replace the 21 day review policy with one that allows every student access to his/her chair for a few hours per week so that we can all make progress as many who participated in this study did.

Two primary complaints: (1) A 40% increase in 4 months is abominable. Thedartmouth.com reported: Benjamin Ginsberg, author of “The Fall of the Faculty: The Rise of the All-Administrative University and Why it Matters," stated that college costs nationwide have increased around 40 percent over the past 30 years, (2) This is punitive for those of us who are already at this point in the process. We are trapped. We have NO option. These increases should be announced to incoming doctoral students who have the option to choose whether to enroll.

Thank you for organizing this petition regarding NCU's dissertation tuition pricing increase. Although we doctoral students work independently in our studies, we share many common concerns and interests. Collectively, we have a strong voice that should be heard by the administration of NCU. I have had a great experience in my studies at NCU so far. I believe the faculty and staff have been attentive and caring. My chair has an excellent background for my dissertation topic. NCU is an excellent university! However, I echo some of the comments that have been shared as outlined below: 1. Chairs should be required to provide meaningful feedback within 7 calendar days from the Learner's submission. 2. Learners should continue to be able to pay for only one credit hour of tuition for DIS 5 and beyond. NCU has provided many excellent improvements to support students; however, the rationale for the reduction of the tuition discount does not directly support the need for the reduction of the tuition discount for DIS 5 and beyond. 3. As stated by others, perhaps a reasonable compromise to the tuition increase would be to provide a grandfather benefit of the original tuition rate based on when students began their doctoral programs. I look forward to NCU's thoughtful response to this important petition.

After reading all of the comments, I must agree that there should have been a grandfather clause for those of us who are already in the DIS courses. I, too, am paying for my education on my own as many of NCU students seem to be, so this tuition hike this late in the game is troubling for me. I do NOT want to be an "ABD" doctoral candidate! I have come too far to not reach my goal, but am not sure how I am going to continue to pay without getting a loan or mortgaging my home, etc. I have LOVED my experience with NCU and all of my mentors have been supportive and encouraging and have given me spot-on feedback. I am VERY happy with my dissertation chair and my committee. I realize that costs increase over time and that universities are all facing issues that require more funding. Therefore, I do not object to an increase for those who are starting their programs, but I do support the proposal that students already in the DIS courses be allowed to finish their program at the current rate. I think that is a reasonable request and one that should be seriously considered by NCU. I am hoping someone who has some clout and power at NCU will take notice of all the comments along with this petition. Surely there could be a compromise made which would be satisfactory for everyone involved.

Debra J Chavez

Please consider making this change. Especially the 7 day turn around time for the dissertation feedback. NCU employees should be held to an equal or higher standard as the NCU students.

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.