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Grants are easier to come by in certain fields than in others. Natural sciences, for the most part, have it much easier than social sciences and humanities. T

Grants are easier to come by in certain fields than in others. Natural sciences, for the most part, have it much easier than social sciences and humanities. Tuition begins to matter when students lose funding. Then it's no longer "funny money." According to the Ph.D. completion project, between 50–60% of students that enter a Ph.D. program finish it by the 10 year mark: http://www.phdcompletion.org/quantitative/book1_quant.asp http://www.phdcompletion.org/quantitative/book1_quant.asp Most programs guarantee funding only through the first 4–6 years. Some programs make students compete against one another for quasi-guaranteed funding after a certain point. A substantial minority of graduate students are either going to quit the program with only a masters degree to show for it or are going to end up paying tuition. Usually they can reduce the amount of tuition paid by enrolling as a "non-resident student" or something similar. But the tuition rate (and how long they will cover tuition) isn't something that can be brushed aside, either by students managing their finances, or by departments assessing their budgets.

jkaunisv1 12y ago
Assuming some amount of my taxes goes towards funding these grants, I'd much rather that money goes towards funding advances in battery or materials technology than to in-depth analyses of Shakespeare. There are advancements and improvements to be made in fields like social work and law but I don't think they'll be made by writing dissertations. Also, are you saying some PhD's take 10 years to complete, not including undergrad/masters? My understanding was a PhD on its own was typically a 3-6 year endeavour. I know it's a difficult project to manage but 10 years seems long.
- theorique 12y ago
  That's probably averaged over all disciplines. The better-funded disciplines (CS, engineering, natural sciences, etc) have better outcomes in the sense of shorter time-to-completion. There's a lot more attrition in arts and social sciences, as I understand it.
analog31 12y ago
These are some good points. I took 7 years from entering grad school, without doing a Masters along the way. I take full responsibility for how long it took -- my first thesis project was over my head. I would not have forged ahead without funding, so my Plan B was to take the Masters (i.e., pay the diploma fee after passing qualifiers) and then pick up a quick Masters in electrical engineering.

jkaunisv1 12y ago

Assuming some amount of my taxes goes towards funding these grants, I'd much rather that money goes towards funding advances in battery or materials technology than to in-depth analyses of Shakespeare. There are advancements and improvements to be made in fields like social work and law but I don't think they'll be made by writing dissertations. Also, are you saying some PhD's take 10 years to complete, not including undergrad/masters? My understanding was a PhD on its own was typically a 3-6 year endeavour. I know it's a difficult project to manage but 10 years seems long.

theorique 12y ago
That's probably averaged over all disciplines. The better-funded disciplines (CS, engineering, natural sciences, etc) have better outcomes in the sense of shorter time-to-completion. There's a lot more attrition in arts and social sciences, as I understand it.

analog31 12y ago

These are some good points. I took 7 years from entering grad school, without doing a Masters along the way. I take full responsibility for how long it took -- my first thesis project was over my head. I would not have forged ahead without funding, so my Plan B was to take the Masters (i.e., pay the diploma fee after passing qualifiers) and then pick up a quick Masters in electrical engineering.