Graduate borrowing makes up a growing share of today's student loans, with about half of all student loan debt borrowed for graduate programs. Average graduate borrowing has grown by about 7 percent for master's degrees and 11 percent for professional degrees over the last 5 years. Borrowing varies widely by field of study and institution type,…

An ample amount of research has been conducted on teenage pregnancy and its adverse effects. However, there is limited research on the educational resiliency of teenage mothers. This phenomenological study explored the experiences of former teen mothers who have successfully completed a master's or doctoral degree. Their personal journeys were…

Using data from the U.S. Department of Education National Center for Education Statistics Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), longitudinal trends in graduate degree completion rates for Hispanic and White students were analyzed over a period of 17 years (2002-2019). The results indicated that there was a significant positive…

Since the General Educational Development (GED) Program was established in 1943, more than 17 million people have received a GED Credential. According to the American Council on Education (ACOE), the GED test is considered an alternative option to the US High school diploma, HiSET and TASC tests; the GED test verifies whether the test taker has…

The demands of Industry 4.0 (the Fourth Industrial Revolution) for a future-ready skilled workforce have placed significant political pressure on PhD programs to deliver different sorts of graduates. The paper documents the prevalent 'skills gap' narrative of global policy actors and, and using a multi-scalar policy lens, examines global and…

This dissertation addressed the underrepresentation of African American women attaining doctoral degrees at universities across the nation. It also explored the McNair Scholars Program, and the role the program played in preparing African American female students for graduate school and completion of the doctoral degree. In line with the…

Purpose: Higher education, as a field of study, is one of the few programmatic areas that offer two doctoral degrees: The Doctor of Education (EdD) and the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD). In the United States, the two degrees are often conflated. Conversations, to this point, have done more to contribute to the theoretical debate than to operationally…

A significant amount of research has been documented on both attrition and retention of doctoral students. The attrition of doctoral students is a loss to society and academia when the prospective scholar does not complete the rigors of the dissertation journey. The time and money invested by the graduate students and the university is of no true…

Academia today is deeply hierarchical and continues to be centered around perceptions of prestige and symbolic capital. The symbolic capital, or pedigree, associated with the training one receives at the graduate level greatly informs how academics navigate their careers and how they advance professionally. In investigating the formation of the…

Promoting diversity in the scientific workforce is crucial for harnessing the potential of available talent and ensuring equitable access to Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Medicine (STEM-M) careers. We have developed an innovative program called Postbaccalaureate Research Opportunity to Promote Equity in Learning (PROPEL) that…

This article provides a quantitative picture of doctoral education in South Africa up to 2010, from the time the first doctorate was awarded in 1899. It identifies the different institutional profiles and emphases of doctoral graduation in South African universities at various periods of time in the context of economic, political and social…

This research was guided by a problem of practice experienced by an EdD program, which transitioned to a fully online modality during the pandemic and rapidly grew in enrollment. The problem evaluated was ensuring the redesigned program milestones -- capstone and comprehensive exam -- are feasible given the size of the program. The current study…

Individuals concerned with subgroup differences on standardized tests suggest replacing these tests with holistic evaluations of unstructured application materials, such as letters of recommendation (LORs), which they posit show less bias. We empirically investigate this proposition that LORs are bias-free, and argue that LORs might actually…

Enrollment in American graduate degree programs is increasing, even as undergraduate enrollment declines continue in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. With rising numbers of graduate awards, there has been increased attention on understanding the value of these degrees, especially master's degrees. With more workers attaining higher credentials,…

Using critical race methodology as a methodological framework, this paper explores how 16 Black men PhD scientists and engineers describe their undergraduate and graduate school choices and how race and racism influenced these processes. Our analysis yielded two descriptive themes focused on counterspaces for Black men in science and engineering…