February 15, 2024
I got a PhD in my spare time for less than $20,000 (*caveat = it took appx 10 years, LOL). Here’s how I did it:
Passion
I chose a subject that I genuinely love – Cognitive Science (inspired by the book Thinking Fast and Slow). Since I was connecting with a love of learning, there was was no pressure to finish the degree (or even progress). Made it much easier to chip away!
Professional Development Budget
While teaching at Saint Ann’s, they generously offered to pay about $5k per semester for classes. This covered about half of the costs.
Scholarships
I got good grades and got an academic scholarship. This covered almost all of the rest of the costs (I had to pay for college fees, and a few classes at the end). I took 1-2 classes per semester, got a Masters in 2017, another Masters in 2020, and then finally defended in December and got the PhD in 2024.
Pictures
Conclusion
In true Dan Lerman fashion, I had a strict deadline to finish before getting kicked out of the program (was taking too long), and I handed in my dissertation 1 hour before that deadline. The dissertation is 111 pages and it’s called “To LERM or Not To LERM?” If you could get a PhD in anything, what would it be?!