You might consider this: If, at some future time you should find
yourself considering stepping over into a tenure-track faculty position
in a higher education institution (remembering John Silber's
evergreen existential riddle "Higher than what?"), you will
discover that the gatekeepers of the professoriate will
probably not even look at you without the Ph. D. or a degree
they consider equivalent, whatever that is. Remember that the
administrators are all risen out of this same club, with its
shared traditions.
Henry Grunder, Ed. D. (Higher Education)