WASHINGTON – It’s expected that prospective graduate school students perform due diligence in researching the Ph.D. programs to which they apply. With the economic recession having helped boost higher education enrollments, the competition for slots in graduation programs throughout the U.S. has been increasing.
Last week, hundreds of advisers in the Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program learned they will need to impress upon their students the necessity for thorough understanding of their graduate school options.
This is so because a change in the Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) requires students who participate in the McNair program to begin graduate work the fall semester after they earn their bachelor’s degree. The change takes effect this summer.
This requirement, combined with the economic downturn, will make Ph.D. program selection all the more important, Dr. Kathryn Kailikole, director of the Louis Stokes Institute at the Council for Opportunity in Education (COE), told student advisers during COE’s annual meeting.
Questions that their students should ask during informational interviews at schools they are considering include “What are the resources of the department?” and “What kinds of grants does the department bring in?” Kailikole said.
McNair program advisers from campuses across the country met in Washington to discuss strategies to address the HEOA change. One of several U.S. Education Department TRIO programs designed to support underrepresented students in pursuit of higher education success, the McNair program prepares qualified “first-generation” students or those who come from lower socio-economic backgrounds for academic work toward earning advanced degrees.
In addition to the new requirement, the overall increase in the number of graduate school applicants as students opt for advanced degrees while riding out the recession will require students to spend more time researching the financial resources a university and its academic departments can offer to finance their graduate work, Nathan Bell, director of research and policy analysis at the Council of Graduate Schools, told McNair program advisers.
