Your experience at California Coast University? Interested in $21k doctorate.

[eLearner]

Pointing out the obvious doesn't make me a troll. Based on the OPs response I cant see how a doctorate would aid them in any form other than a wall hanger or coffee table conversation. If a private for-profit university that doesn't even have RA accreditation requires ONE in person visit, then the writing is on the wall right?

A doctoral degree is more than just regurgitating information. Even the EdD type degrees require some sort of research with in person poster presentations, consortiums etc. I would be extremely wary of spending any money at a 100% online doctoral program online unless you are just an arbitrary credential chaser.

At some point, you have to ask the "why" and if the ROI is there beyond just collecting papers. In the end it, likely won't impress anyone but yourself. If impressing yourself is something you are into, go for it. There are a TON of online masters degrees out there that are viable from amazing schools, so I am not sure why people stretch every which way to find a half-ass non PhD doctorate online.

People have to choose the programs that fit their needs, and the overlooked and important component is choosing a program that fits their learning style. There are "RA" schools with similar systems to California Coast University, and I thank God for them because independent study is how I learn best. The be-here-at-a-certain-time-and-sit and-listen-to-this-2-hour-lecture-at-a-terribly-inconvenient-time programs were never a fit for me, and even less so when I had a full-time job and bills to pay. Sure, I got great grades in those programs, but I never learned as much as I did when I was in independent study programs and had the freedom to learn how and when I wanted to.

ROI is not the be-all and end-all point of education. It's a real shame that this has become the focus above learning. But that's why boards like these exist, so that we can find ways to spend far less money than normal and still get the education we desire. Fact is, most schools are not blowing the doors off in ROI, neither RA nor NA, which is why enrollments hit the wall years ago. People have gotten hip to that fact and don't have that much faith in the payoff of a college degree anymore, and rightfully so with the amount of student loan debt and how wages are being chewed up by inflation. If anything, this is the most critical time ever to find lower cost alternatives.