Dissertation limbo and a diatribe about the Gainful Employment rule

My dissertation chair forwarded me a short, but positive comment about my concept paper from someone on my committee: "I found this easy to read and follow." That seems like good feedback, right? I'm delighted she found my paper easy to read and follow; however, what I really want from her is a thumbs-up on my concept. Does the fact that she found my paper easy to read and follow mean that she approves it? Or is there a big HOWEVER coming my way, followed by the dreaded PLEASE RESUBMIT?

Don't misunderstand me. I'm grateful. It was nice of my chair, after two weeks, to flip me this little crumb. I think the mentors and chairs have a finely developed sense of how long they can keep a student waiting for feedback before the student complains to the advisor. According to the syllabus, they have two weeks to turn around my submission. The longer they can keep me on the hook, waiting, the longer this course will take, and the more money they and the school will make.

Northcentral University is a regionally accredited online university. Regional accreditation is the highest accreditation an institution can earn. However, the fact that the institution is fully online is a red flag to many people. (How good can the education be if the students never interact in person or even in synchronous real time with each other or the professor?) NCU is also a for-profit corporation. I have some experience with the for-profit higher education world. Besides "attending" a for-profit university, I work for a for-profit career college. I often think about the uneasy tension between academic rigor and the profit motive.

When I look around our campus (three floors in a pumpkin colored rented office building surrounded by a busy retail hub the size of a small city), I see shabby carpets, old whiteboards, shoddy chairs, out-dated dilapidated textbooks, and weary instructors. The energy of former days is long gone. We don't offer the latest computer simulated learning environments. We don't have smartboards and projectors built into every classroom. Even our toilets don't work. I know we are losing money now, but at one point, our parking lot was bursting with cars, our hallways were bustling with students. Where did the money go?

I have mixed feelings about the new Gainful Employment rule recently adopted by the Department of Education. (The rule is designed to protect consumers and taxpayers from the predatory practices of for-profit institutions.) I want students to be recruited by honest admissions representatives. I want students to be presented with meaningful and challenging learning opportunities. I want students to have successful outcomes: graduation, employment in their fields, and the ability to pay back their student loans. I want all that for them, and if legislation is the way to "encourage" for-profit institutions to provide it, then I am in favor of it. And if institutions are not able to meet the new standards, then they should be encouraged to change or to close their underperforming programs.

But it's my job we are talking about. As a former artist and consummate under-earner, I fear joblessness more than just about anything. Even though sometimes I think calling myself a teacher is a gross misnomer, I don't have the integrity to quit my job quite yet. Maybe after I finish this Ph.D. Although at the rate I am going, it isn't likely to happen soon.

The 14th day will be tomorrow.