Factors Influencing Doctoral Program Completion

Abstract

About half of all doctoral students who start a doctoral program do not finish it. A variety of factors internal and external to the student have been studied to determine what factors are associated with a student finishing and not finishing a doctoral program. Several factors have been identified and include both barriers and their counterpart facilitators. Barriers include a lack of motivation, not fully understanding expectations, low self-regulation, poor student-advisor fit, and a lack of social integration. Facilitators include being motivated, understanding expectations well, good student-advisor fit, and sufficient social integration. Strategies for improving doctoral program completion have been proposed that intervene on these factors and have focused on the admissions process, student preparedness, isocial integration, and faculty advisor support, but the effectiveness of such strategies has been less studied. This chapter provides an overview of what is known about facilitators of and barriers to doctoral program completion and proposed and successful strategies for improving doctoral program completion. This overview can serve as a guide for the development of evidence-based strategies for improving doctoral program completion at institutions of higher education.