The University of Alabama

Date: Dec 31 1969
Major: Education (This Major's Salary over time)
I was an out-of-state graduate student with Masters degree in my field. While I was able to complete my doctoral program in three years (including dissertation) it was not without consequences. The faculty in the Instructional Technology are afraid of anyone that is intelligent and can make a coherent argument. They were mean spirited and did not make time for their graduate students. They were more concerned about enrolling as many graduate students as possible but really did not care if you completed the program.

The coursework was not terribly difficult. A lot of it was a repeat of my introductory courses from my Masters program. Also, I found most of my classmates could operate Internet Explorer. I did have some classmates who (like me) were not from the K-12 sector of education but were eLearning Developers/Instructional Designers. The rest of them were K-12 teachers who quite frankly did not their *** from their elbows. These K-12 teachers were tenured and were only enrolled in the program to get a raise. They had no aspirations of learning how to be eLearning developers. That would be too much outside their comfort zones.

However, if you are white and male and in the college of education, you are treated with disdain. As with any college of education, they are from anti-male and anti-white. I knew of students who were given basically a free-pass on their dissertations because they were of a minority status or some other protected class. Also, the faculty want you write journal articles push their political agendas and opinions (basically crap) and Lord help you if you disagree with them.

Do not waste your time, energy, and the University of Alabama. They paid (2007-2010) graduate teaching/research assistants 14,000 year plus tuition and paid student health plan which is pitiful. While the free tuition is great, the cost of living for a dump in Tuscaloosa has gone up so much that you need to either work full-time or take out student loans to cover other monthly expenses (like prescriptions, food, and gas).

Also the paid student health insurance (Viva Health) is terrible. It is the same plan that the undergraduates get and they deny every claim you make. You have send nasty letters and hire a lawyer in order to get them to pay for anything. In my opinion, you do the same work as the faculty with regards to teaching/research then you should be compensated with their health insurance plan. Also, if you can't find a job after your graduate (happened to me), you cannot draw on unemployment because Alabama State law allows universities and colleges not contribute to your unemployment insurance benefits. They don't have to and they won't. I was told take it up with the state legislature.

Do yourself a favor.. If you want to learn about eLearning and/or adult learning and training and be treated like a human being and not have to deal with the insane socialist politics, then go to either University of South Alabama in Mobile, Auburn University, Old Dominion University, University of Virgina, or North Carolina State University.