The Master of Arts programs in Human Development and Education at Saint Mary's College (Minnesota) arose in response to a need felt by many involved in the helping professions for a nontraditional approach to graduate education. The program is designed to develop competence in understanding one's own growth as well as that of others with whom the candidate is in contact. The structure of the program is based on several premises: (1) that learning is a cyclical process involving experience, development, reflection, and conceptualization; (2) that much growth occurs in the context of self-directed learning; and (3) that rigorous, scholarly study must be balanced with experience and a deeper confrontation with theory. The contract serves as the basic unit of each candidate's work, as an agreement between the faculty and the candidate, and as part of the official transcript if requested. A range of 32 to 45 credits is necessary to qualify for the M.A. degree, and work is divided into four contract periods. Time and credit arrangements are highly flexible and based on the amount and kind of accomplishment. Details of the program and the results of a student survey are presented. The questionnaire is appended. (MSE)