Thank you for your concerns. If I wasn't in the situation I'm in right now, I'd totally jump ship. The field is scary. The only reason I'm keeping at it is because I might be able to get a faculty position at my university one day.... It'll be a "decent" paying job at $40,000 with higher for adjuncting. I also get free healthcare for myself and free lunch during the school year, so I'm actually getting "paid" a lot more.
For that chance, you're proposing to spend $15k/year for 5 years ($90k, or really more like $100k+ when you factor in that tuition goes up every year). That's a huge investment for a $40k/year job.
If you do get the position you're describing, I can see it being worth it because a dream job is a dream job. I would do a PhD under those circumstances too, probably--that is, if I were virtually certain of getting that job--but I still wouldn't pay for it. Have you researched where you can get a PhD in theology (or whatever related field your PhD would be in) for free? That is, with a tuition waiver and stipend? Also, since your school has that department, do they do PhDs and can you do yours there for free or for substantially reduced tuition? You would be in a better position, I think, if you could pursue your PhD while maintaining a position of some kind at your current university. That is, unless your profs and/or the dean tell you that they don't hire their own PhD's--many places don't; they want more intellectual diversity.
The dean already wants me to teach as an adjunct, so I'll get the teaching experience.
If you get a UK PhD, that teaching experience will be 5 years in the past when you go on the market. You will still be terribly handicapped when compared with people who got their PhD's at American universities. Also, adjuncting in the humanities often is not the same kind of experience as being a TA while pursuing your PhD. As a TA in a US university, I got to design my own classes (within certain set parameters of course), choose my own textbooks, etc. Often adjuncts are just given a preexisting class plan and told to teach it--in other words they have classroom teaching experience, but little or no experience in curriculum design, pedagogy etc. That may not be the case with your adjunct position, but I'm just putting this out there because if it IS the case, it still handicaps you relative to other applicants.
Even if I can't get hired as a faculty member, I'm hoping that with the Ph.D and continual research, I'll be able to use my networks at my academic society for possible positions.
You, and every other aspiring PhD in your field (as well as every PhD who is working as an adjunct or a visiting professor), have that same hope. You are all gunning for the same positions. It's like playing musical chairs with 1000 people and six chairs. (I'm making those numbers up, but I'm sure you can do the research: find out how many people get PhD's in your field each year, and then look on the Chronicle.com job boards and elsewhere to see how many jobs in that field are offered each year--and I mean tenure-track or comparable positions, not adjunct positions.)
In the meantime, I'll still have a job, and my wife will get a free master's degree.
What field is she in--can't she find a funded master's program? I'm not aware of any humanities field where there are no funded master's programs. Also, remind me again, does your wife *need* that master's degree in order to go into the career she wants?
As for the concept of doing a UK PhD part time while continuing to work and possibly adjuncting, here are the problems:
- There is no way you will have time to do a PhD, work full or near full-time, and adjunct. AND parent AND be a husband, too! When you contemplate that, you are seriously underestimating the work involved in a PhD--even a part-time one.
- I've looked into UK humanities PhD's myself, and I have yet to find one that does not require you to spend a pretty significant chunk of time in the UK. The part-time ones I've seen often require attendance on some or all weekends (i.e., they are for people who work in the UK) or chunks of weeks or full semesters in residence. So my guess--though I could be wrong, so please correct me if I am--is that either you haven't looked at the "fine print" on the UK university websites you're looking at, or you are looking at degrees from no-name universities. Having a degree from a no-name university in another country is a serious handicap on the job market. Everyone understands a degree from Oxford or Cambridge, and most people would understand a few other places in the UK, but the list of UK universities that are well known here is pretty dang short.
When I googled "theology PhD UK," these 23 programs came up. All but the last one is described as being "on campus":
http://www.phdportal.eu/search/?q=ci-30|di-99|lv-phd||517208d2&start=0&length=10
And as for the last one, when you look more closely at that program it says that though it's part-time, "you will be supported throughout by regular supervision, seminars, and workshops with peer and academic engagement. There will also be a summer school drawing together professional doctoral students in practical theology from other universities offering this programme."
http://www.phdportal.eu/studies/47071/practical-theology-doctorate.htmlNow, Birmingham is not a no-name uni in the UK, but I doubt many people have heard of it here, and in any case it still seems to require a fair amount of travel to and time in the UK, which might be not only incompatible with your job, but expensive (air fare etc.). Also, just FYI, as someone who has studied at a UK university I can tell you that they can and do flunk students regularly, and at least when I was there, flunking meant you got one more chance to pass the final exam and if you didn't pass it, your options included: leaving school; sitting out the year and trying again next year; or taking a downgrade to your degree (e.g., from Honors to no honors or from a dual major to a single major). Things may have changed, but it would be something to look into--you shouldn't assume that either (1) you won't ever fail an exam or (2) if you do you can just retake the class.
Again, if you can get the job at your current school then I can certainly see the investment being worth it, because a life spent teaching a subject you love at the university level for a decent salary sounds great to me. I'm just urging you to really get the details of how you can best accomplish this nailed down, and to set yourself up with a decent plan B. I'm no expert in your field but it seems to me that especially if profs AT YOUR SCHOOL, where you eventually want to work, are saying North American universities are your best bet, you really should look closely at that and consider whether you can make it work to do a FULLY FUNDED PhD at a US university with a highly ranked program in your field. That would set you up for a plan B (if you don't get a job at your school, or later on find yourself wanting to leave that school) much better than some random UK PhD.