percentage of phd students who drop out

• PhD Failure Rate – A Study of 26,076 PhD Candidates
• Doing a PhD

The PhD failure rate in the UK is 19.5%, with 16.2% of students leaving their PhD programme early, and 3.3% of students failing their viva. 80.5% of all students who enrol onto a PhD programme successfully complete it and are awarded a doctorate.

Introduction

One of the biggest concerns for doctoral students is the ongoing fear of failing their PhD.

After all those years of research, the long days in the lab and the endless nights in the library, it’s no surprise to find many agonising over the possibility of it all being for nothing. While this fear will always exist, it would help you to know how likely failure is, and what you can do to increase your chances of success.

Read on to learn how PhDs can be failed, what the true failure rates are based on an analysis of 26,067 PhD candidates from 14 UK universities, and what your options are if you’re unsuccessful in obtaining your PhD.

Ways You Can Fail A PhD

There are essentially two ways in which you can fail a PhD; non-completion or failing your viva (also known as your thesis defence ).

Non-completion

Non-completion is when a student leaves their PhD programme before having sat their viva examination. Since vivas take place at the end of the PhD journey, typically between the 3rd and 4th year for most full-time programmes, most failed PhDs fall within the ‘non-completion’ category because of the long duration it covers.

There are many reasons why a student may decide to leave a programme early, though these can usually be grouped into two categories:

• Motives – The individual may no longer believe undertaking a PhD is for them. This might be because it isn’t what they had imagined, or they’ve decided on an alternative path.
• Extenuating circumstances – The student may face unforeseen problems beyond their control, such as poor health, bereavement or family difficulties, preventing them from completing their research.

In both cases, a good supervisor will always try their best to help the student continue with their studies. In the former case, this may mean considering alternative research questions or, in the latter case, encouraging you to seek academic support from the university through one of their student care policies.

Besides the student deciding to end their programme early, the university can also make this decision. On these occasions, the student’s supervisor may not believe they’ve made enough progress for the time they’ve been on the project. If the problem can’t be corrected, the supervisor may ask the university to remove the student from the programme.

Failing The Viva

Assuming you make it to the end of your programme, there are still two ways you can be unsuccessful.

The first is an unsatisfactory thesis. For whatever reason, your thesis may be deemed not good enough, lacking originality, reliable data, conclusive findings, or be of poor overall quality. In such cases, your examiners may request an extensive rework of your thesis before agreeing to perform your viva examination. Although this will rarely be the case, it is possible that you may exceed the permissible length of programme registration and if you don’t have valid grounds for an extension, you may not have enough time to be able to sit your viva.

The more common scenario, while still being uncommon itself, is that you sit and fail your viva examination. The examiners may decide that your research project is severely flawed, to the point where it can’t possibly be remedied even with major revisions. This could happen for reasons such as basing your study on an incorrect fundamental assumption; this should not happen however if there is a proper supervisory support system in place.

PhD Failure Rate – UK & EU Statistics

According to 2010-11 data published by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (now replaced by UK Research and Innovation ), 72.9% of students enrolled in a PhD programme in the UK or EU complete their degree within seven years. Following this, 80.5% of PhD students complete their degree within 25 years.

This means that four out of every five students who register onto a PhD programme successfully complete their doctorate.

While a failure rate of one in five students may seem a little high, most of these are those who exit their programme early as opposed to those who fail at the viva stage.

Failing Doesn’t Happen Often

Although a PhD is an independent project, you will be appointed a supervisor to support you. Each university will have its own system for how your supervisor is to support you , but regardless of this, they will all require regular communication between the two of you. This could be in the form of annual reviews, quarterly interim reviews or regular meetings. The majority of students also have a secondary academic supervisor (and in some cases a thesis committee of supervisors); the role of these can vary from having a hands-on role in regular supervision, to being another useful person to bounce ideas off of.

These frequent check-ins are designed to help you stay on track with your project. For example, if any issues are identified, you and your supervisor can discuss how to rectify them in order to refocus your research. This reduces the likelihood of a problem going undetected for several years, only for it to be unearthed after it’s too late to address.

In addition, the thesis you submit to your examiners will likely be your third or fourth iteration, with your supervisor having critiqued each earlier version. As a result, your thesis will typically only be submitted to the examiners after your supervisor approves it; many UK universities require a formal, signed document to be submitted by the primary academic supervisor at the same time as the student submits the thesis, confirming that he or she has approved the submission.

Failed Viva – Outcomes of 26,076 Students

Despite what you may have heard, the failing PhD rate amongst students who sit their viva is low.

This, combined with ongoing guidance from your supervisor, is because vivas don’t have a strict pass/fail outcome. You can find a detailed breakdown of all viva outcomes in our viva guide, but to summarise – the most common outcome will be for you to revise your thesis in accordance with the comments from your examiners and resubmit it.

This means that as long as the review of your thesis and your viva examination uncovers no significant issues, you’re almost certain to be awarded a provisional pass on the basis you make the necessary corrections to your thesis.

To give you an indication of the viva failure rate, we’ve analysed the outcomes of 26,076 PhD candidates from 14 UK universities who sat a viva between 2006 and 2017.

The analysis shows that of the 26,076 students who sat their viva, 25,063 succeeded; this is just over 96% of the total students as shown in the chart below.

Students Who Passed

The analysis shows that of the 96% of students who passed, approximately 5% required no amendments, 79% required minor amendments and the remaining 16% required major revisions. This supports our earlier discussion on how the most common outcome of a viva is a ‘pass with minor amendments’.

Students Who Failed

Of the 4% of unsuccessful students, approximately 97% were awarded an MPhil (Master of Philosophy), and 3% weren’t awarded a degree.

Note : It should be noted that while the data provides the student’s overall outcome, i.e. whether they passed or failed, they didn’t all provide the students specific outcome, i.e. whether they had to make amendments, or with a failure, whether they were awarded an MPhil. Therefore, while the breakdowns represent the current known data, the exact breakdown may differ.

Summary of Findings

By using our data in combination with the earlier statistic provided by HEFCE, we can gain an overall picture of the PhD journey as summarised in the image below.

To summarise, based on the analysis of 26,076 PhD candidates at 14 universities between 2006 and 2017, the PhD pass rate in the UK is 80.5%. Of the 19.5% of students who fail, 3.3% is attributed to students failing their viva and the remaining 16.2% is attributed to students leaving their programme early.

The above statistics indicate that while 1 in every 5 students fail their PhD, the failure rate for the viva process itself is low. Specifically, only 4% of all students who sit their viva fail; in other words, 96% of the students pass it.

What Are Your Options After an Unsuccessful PhD?

Appeal your outcome.

If you believe you had a valid case, you can try to appeal against your outcome . The appeal process will be different for each university, so ensure you consult the guidelines published by your university before taking any action.

While making an appeal may be an option, it should only be considered if you genuinely believe you have a legitimate case. Most examiners have a lot of experience in assessing PhD candidates and follow strict guidelines when making their decisions. Therefore, your claim for appeal will need to be strong if it is to stand up in front of committee members in the adjudication process.

Downgrade to MPhil

If you are unsuccessful in being awarded a PhD, an MPhil may be awarded instead. For this to happen, your work would need to be considered worthy of an MPhil, as although it is a Master’s degree, it is still an advanced postgraduate research degree.

Unfortunately, there’s a lot of stigma around MPhil degrees, with many worrying that it will be seen as a sign of a failed PhD. While not as advanced as a PhD, an MPhil is still an advanced research degree, and being awarded one shows that you’ve successfully carried out an independent research project which is an undertaking to be admired.

Finding a PhD has never been this easy – search for a PhD by keyword, location or academic area of interest.

Additional Resources

Hopefully now knowing the overall picture your mind will feel slightly more at ease. Regardless, there are several good practices you can adopt to ensure you’re always in the best possible position. The key of these includes developing a good working relationship with your supervisor, working to a project schedule, having your thesis checked by several other academics aside from your supervisor, and thoroughly preparing for your viva examination.

We’ve developed a number of resources which should help you in the above:

• What to Expect from Your Supervisor – Find out what to look for in a Supervisor, how they will typically support you, and how often you should meet with them.
• How to Write a Research Proposal – Find an outline of how you can go about putting a project plan together.
• What is a PhD Viva? – Learn exactly what a viva is, their purpose and what you can expect on the day. We’ve also provided a full breakdown of all the possible outcomes of a viva and tips to help you prepare for your own.

Data for Statistics

• Cardiff University – 2006/07 to 2016/17
• Imperial College London – 2006/07 to 2016/17
• London School of Economics (LSE) – 2006/07 to 2015/16
• Queen Mary University of London – 2009/10 to 2015/16
• University College London (UCL) – 2006/07 to 2016/17
• University of Aberdeen – 2006/07 to 2016/17
• University of Birmingham – 2006/07 to 2015/16
• University of Bristol – 2006/07 to 2016/17
• University of Edinburgh – 2006/07 to 2016/17
• University of Nottingham – 2006/07 to 2015/16
• University of Oxford – 2007/08 to 2016/17
• University of York – 2009/10 to 2016/17
• University of Manchester – 2008/09 to 2017/18
• University of Sheffield – 2006/07 to 2016/17

Note : The data used for this analysis was obtained from the above universities under the Freedom of Information Act. As per the Act, the information was provided in such a way that no specific individual can be identified from the data.

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Why Do So Many Graduate Students Quit?

Universities themselves may be contributing to burnout.

With half of all doctoral students leaving graduate school without finishing , something significant and overwhelming must be happening for at least some of them during the process of obtaining that degree. Mental illness is often offered as the standard rationale to explain why some graduate students burn out . Some research has suggested a link between intelligence and conditions such as bipolar disorder, leading some observers to believe many graduate students struggle with mental-health problems that predispose them to burning out.

But such research is debatable , and surely not every student who drops out has a history of mental illness. So, what compels students to abandon their path to a Ph.D.? Could there be other underlying factors, perhaps environmental, that can cause an otherwise-mentally-healthy graduate student to become anxious, depressed, suicidal, or, in rare cases, violent?

Research suggests that the majority of students who enter doctoral programs possess the academic ability to complete their studies, but systemic issues at schools may lead to high attrition and mental distress among graduate students. In exploring what exacerbates mental-health issues among graduate students, it may be wise to shift the focus away from labeling graduate students “deficient” to investigate how institutions themselves may be causing attrition.

The culture of Ph.D. programs can make some students snap, according to Karen Kelsky, a former tenured professor and academic career coach. In fact, she said in an email, “it isn't usually a snap so much as a gradual disintegration.” Ph.D. programs are extremely lonely and based on a culture of critique rather than support in which professors and peers constantly look for weaknesses in the doctoral student’s arguments, she said.

During Kelsky’s 15 years as a tenured professor and advisor, she witnessed many students toil in solitude on their dissertations while sacrificing their outside interests. “You become overly fixated on what your professors think of you,” she said. “Paranoia is quite rampant in Ph.D. programs because Ph.D. students can get so isolated and so fixated on whether or not the people in authority [committee members] approve of what they're doing since they have total authority to grant the degree.”

Marcella Wilson , a computer-science professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), completed her undergraduate work at Washington Bible College, a small, historically black institution. The close-knit campus with doting professors, she said, did not prepare her for certain aspects of life as a computer-science doctoral student at UMBC. “[The graduate faculty] don’t have time to help you,” she said. “You get [the coursework] or you get out.”

After encountering a number of obstacles to on-time completion—including disagreements with faculty over shifting course-completion requirements, watching as a graduate faculty member warned other faculty not to advise her, and feeling that she was being ostracized—Wilson said she started to have panic attacks and feelings of paranoia. “I felt trapped when I was inside my car … I was becoming agoraphobic,” she recalled. “When I would get into the car, I had visions of myself opening up the door and rolling out into traffic and hurting myself.”

Janet Rutledge, the vice provost and graduate-school dean at UMBC, said Wilson’s recollections are reflective of a widespread problem at her university and graduate programs across the country: a lack of communication between faculty and students. “Very rarely is the faculty motive … malicious,” she said. Faculty members are often “very busy and they don’t communicate the full reason for some of the things that they do, so it is only natural that a student makes certain assumptions based on what they have been able to observe.”

In a brief titled “ Re-Envisioning the Ph.D ,” Jody Nyquist, the former dean of graduate studies at the University of Washington, asked doctoral students across eight disciplines about the flaws they perceived in the graduate-school process. An overwhelming number complained about a lack of quality mentoring and support from faculty. The study also noted that doctoral students believed mentoring needs to begin earlier, be more systematic, and be based on a multiple-mentor model.

Graduate programs that encourage a multiple-mentor model of advising are rare, but this type of support is precisely what helped Wilson complete her doctoral program, she said. After being informed of Wilson’s troublesome graduate experiences, Rutledge introduced her to PROMISE , a program that supports the academic development of graduate students at UMBC. “Once I began to believe I could graduate, I realized that it was not about [the professors],” Wilson said. “I have good relationships with them all now.”

Scott Kerlin, a former doctoral-committee member at the University of Washington and the author of Pursuit of the Ph.D.: “Survival of the Fittest,” suggested that students describe the doctoral process as more “political” than intellectual in nature. There are “lots of issues of power and powerlessness that pervade the graduate experience,” Kerlin said, which may induce extreme distress for students who feels powerless. Indeed, a common reaction to highly stressful situations is difficulty engaging in mutual problem-solving, which, according to Rutledge, makes it especially important for graduate-school administrators to mediate discord between faculty.

But that can be hard to achieve: Many students are convinced the doctoral experience sets them up to fail. “Dysfunctional graduate departments, toxic faculty, and the Navy Seal-like brutality of the Ph.D. process all contribute to the burnout experienced by the estimated 50-plus percent of Ph.D. students who fail to earn their doctorates,” wrote Jill Yesko, then a doctoral student in geography, in a 2014 op-ed for Inside Higher Ed .

And many students enter their doctoral programs assuming that they’re always expected to maintain the illusion of mental stability and confidence while interacting with faculty members, peers, or future employers—regardless of any issues that may arise. While colleges and universities are expanding mental-health services for students, many doctoral candidates feel they need to mask their weaknesses because asking for help would be detrimental to their professional reputations.

In 2011, the University of Texas at Austin’s sociology department conducted a study of graduate students at 26 major universities across the United States. The study, “Stress and Relief for American Graduate Students ,” found that 43 percent of all study participants reported experiencing more stress than they could handle, with Ph.D. students expressing the greatest amounts of stress. Of the students polled, more than half listed stress or burnout as a major concern, about a quarter cited feeling like an outsider, and nearly a third listed their relationships with professors. Only 6 percent of graduate students said they felt they could frequently turn to their mentors and advisors for assistance during stressful times .

“I live and work in a context in which I am encouraged to conceal my [depression], lest it somehow devalue or denigrate my intellectual efforts or the currency of my reputation … This is a toll that academia exacts from so many of us,” Jacqui Shine, a doctoral student at UC Berkeley wrote in a column on Chronicle Vitae .

Chester Goad, a graduate instructor at Tennessee Technological University and the director of its disability-services offices, said he’d never experienced an anxiety attack until he entered his doctoral program in educational leadership.

Goad thought he had been doing well managing his hectic schedule, which included being a father and husband, and maintaining a full-time job, often working on literature reviews or research that forced him to leave the university well after midnight. One day, he had a panic attack while en route to an examination with his peers. Feeling lightheaded and claustrophobic, he had to run away to catch his breath. When he regained composure, his first reaction was a feeling of shame. “As professionals you don’t want people to see you in that situation,” he said. “You want people to think you have got it all collected and together.”

Dion Metzger, an Atlanta-based psychiatrist who specializes in mental illness, argued that the graduate-student experience “produces unique stressors that may not necessarily be found in other career paths.” In pursuing an especially high level of education, she noted, many people may feel an especially high pressure to receive a return on their investment. Alienation from friends and family, an average of eight years spent developing and presenting research, and the cost, are just a few of the ways students feel they have invested.

But sometimes the emotional, social, and financial sacrifices doctoral students make during their studies are, at least initially, difficult to recuperate. In 2014, well over a third of doctorate recipients reported no firm employment upon graduation .

“The students place these expectations on themselves, but sometimes feel the pressure from loved ones who have supported them through their education,” said Metzger, the psychiatrist. “A simple question of ‘Have you found a job yet?’ can [create] instant panic-like symptoms for graduate students. There is a greater pressure to get a job that measures up to the hard work that was put in. Depending on the graduate school path chosen, that is easier said than done … This can be devastating.”

How to Know When It's Time to Quit Your Ph.D. Program

Here are some pointers on when to stay in a Ph.D. program and when to drop out.

When to Quit Your Ph.D. Program

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Alumni of Ph.D. programs say one valid reason to exit a Ph.D. program is if having a Ph.D. is not necessary for you to achieve your professional aspirations.

Earning a doctorate of any sort is difficult. After years of study, candidates must pass a qualification exam, write a lengthy dissertation or complete a capstone project, and defend their research and conclusions in front of a panel.

And unlike most other degree programs, research doctorates - commonly known as Doctor of Philosophy, or Ph.D., degrees - frequently do not have precise parameters on how long they take to finish.

Uncertainty surrounding when graduation day will arrive is one of the challenging aspects of these programs, and Ph.D. students often struggle to plan for the future when they don't have an end date in mind, says Adam Ruben, who has a Ph.D. degree in biochemistry and molecular biology from Johns Hopkins University in Maryland.

"It's so indeterminate, how long it will last," says Ruben, who wrote a satirical book called "Surviving Your Stupid, Stupid Decision to Go to Grad School."

"People ask you how long it will be until you graduate, and most of the time you tell them you have no idea," he adds. "It's not really until that last six-month stretch or so, when you have a thesis defense date scheduled, and you can see the light at the end of the tunnel, that you know how long it is going to be."

Students who have started to regret their decision to enter a Ph.D. program should carefully evaluate whether it makes sense to stay in graduate school, experts say.

"Sometimes, openly considering quitting as a real option can help you to reconnect with why you started the PhD in the first place, and why you would like to stay," Katherine Firth, an academic adviser at the University of Melbourne in Australia, who has a Ph.D. and supervises Ph.D. students, wrote in an email.

Noncompletion and Academic Delays

Many people who enroll in Ph.D. programs leave those programs without Ph.D. degrees or take longer than eight years to finish their studies.

Ph.D. completion statistics from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences reveal that only 42% of humanities Ph.D. students in the U.S. who began pursuing their degrees sometime between 1996 and 2006 had doctorates eight years later.

Research on Ph.D. program attrition indicates that conflict between Ph.D. students and their academic advisers increases the odds that students will leave grad school. Frustration that arises while coming up with ideas for a dissertation or capstone, completing that project and defending it can be a major source of stress for Ph.D. students, many of whom leave their programs after completing doctoral coursework but before finalizing and successfully defending their work, research shows.

Additionally, Ph.D. students often express a need for additional funding, mental health services and professional mentoring.

Ph.D. program alumni often say they were mistreated by faculty during graduate school. A global survey of graduate students and postdoctoral researchers at academic science institutions, published in May 2021, revealed that 84% of current and former science Ph.D. students and postdocs felt that an academic supervisor had treated them abusively.

"Cases where people are facing harassment, bullying or exclusion for example, might mean a person decides the only safe option is to quit, but a better academic culture would let them stay and complete," says Firth.

Reasons to Leave a Ph.D. Program

When a ph.d. won't help you get where you want to go.

Lt. Col. Robert Solano, a U.S. Army aviator and commander for the federal Defense Contract Management Agency, exited a distance learning, predominantly online Ph.D. program in aviation science several years ago. He realized he could advance in the military and thrive as an entrepreneur and investor without a doctorate.

"You don't need Ph.D. behind your name to show the world your self-worth and the value that you bring," he adds. "I wish I'd understood that sooner in the process."

Solano, who was a part-time Ph.D. student with a full-time military career and military scholarships, had acquired around $15,000 of debt to finance his Ph.D. studies, he says.

"One of my biggest deciding factors was that I felt like the dissertation process didn't allow me to be creative and pursue research that was going to be really meaningful and impactful in my career and my life," Solano says, adding that he submitted three dissertation research proposals that were rejected. "I could not imagine doing that for the next two to four years of my life, struggling with a dissertation board, and I think that was really the biggest factor for me."

When Your Well-Being Is at Risk

Experts say it's worth considering pausing or ending your studies if they are significantly interfering with other important aspects of your life, such as your family, health and relationships.

For Solano, the volume of Ph.D. reading and writing assignments he had to complete often felt overwhelming when combined with his professional duties. "I was declining in happiness and declining in health," he says.

Solano also worried that time spent on doctoral studies would take away from time with the woman who later became his wife, he says.

"If I could have done one thing differently, it would have been paying closer attention to that and not sacrificing those two things - my happiness and health," he says.

When You Find Another Way

Sometimes Ph.D. students receive job offers for their dream positions during their Ph.D. studies. In those cases, "they might choose to leave because they have already achieved their goals," Firth says.

Another valid reason to leave a Ph.D. program, she says, is if a student discovers that the actual experience of obtaining a Ph.D. "is not what they signed up for, and it doesn’t suit them after all."

What to Do if You're Considering Quitting

Ask for advice from someone other than your thesis adviser.

Certain problems with Ph.D. programs, such as disagreements and misunderstandings with advisers, may be addressed by seeking help from various faculty members or administrators at your grad school and outside experts who aren't on your thesis committee, experts say.

"There are other folks that (students) can go to for help and perspective, on and off campus," says Jennifer Polk, a Ph.D. recipient who provides career consulting to Ph.D. students and alumni via her consulting firm, "From Ph.D. to Life."

Ph.D. students often feel disempowered and isolated, Polk says, but "if the decision is whether to quit or not, that actually gives you power."

"If you're willing to walk away, you have power, so you can go and talk to other professors," she adds. "You can go and talk to the chair of the department. ... You can escalate to the graduate dean. There might be other offices you can go to before you burn it all down."

Firth notes that sometimes changes to a Ph.D. program – such as a switch from one adviser to another or a change to a thesis committee – can address a Ph.D. student's concerns and negate the desire to quit. Transitioning to part-time study or taking a leave of absence could make sense, and so could shifting between locations if a university has multiple campuses, she adds.

"Sometimes people think they have to quit, but they could seek out other adjustments," Firth wrote. It's also important for Ph.D. students in distress to evaluate whether their "current problems might go away with time or are here to stay," she says.

Consider Whether You Are Being Too Self-Critical

It is common for Ph.D. students to have a crisis of confidence in the middle of their studies, but Ruben cautions that doubts about personal competence may simply be impostor syndrome in disguise.

Though skepticism is frequently beneficial when conducting academic research, it can become destructive if it compromises someone's faith in themselves, he says.

"The problem is if you apply that skepticism to your own abilities and you apply it too harshly and say, 'I'm no good. I'm the worst person here. I don't deserve to be here,'" Ruben says. "You're going to feel terrible and you may also make some decisions that you wouldn't necessarily have made if you had a better sense of your own abilities and interests."

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Quickie: How many PhD students are anxious or depressed (or will drop out) worldwide?

One of the catalysts that kickstarted this blog was the realization that PhD students are at a higher risk of mental health problems than other students and professionals. Yet, how bad is the problem really? Exactly how many PhD students are suffering from depression or severe anxiety right now ? How many will drop out ? In this quickie post, I pull from the data of a few recent studies to give a concrete, numeric answer guesstimate to these questions.

For the past two years, we have been writing in this blog about the mental health challenges of doing a doctoral degree, risk factors associated to them, and potential practices and solutions to face them . But I have never really written about the scale of the problem: how many people suffer from these challenges? is it hundreds of people, thousands, tens of thousands? This is a notoriously hard question to answer, not only because mental health is still a taboo subject in many cultures, but also because good estimates of the number of doctoral students worldwide, were unavailable…

… until now . Several recent studies and scientific reports have finally given us the pieces of data to peg a number to this everyday drama of doctoral education.

The numbers

What percentage of doctoral students are anxious? A recent systematic review looking at mental health issues in the doctorate estimated the prevalence of anxiety problems among doctoral students at 17% 1 . This figure may be lower than some other studies I have seen 2 , but it probably is a less biased estimate… Still, that is one in every six students!

What percentage of doctoral students are depressed? In the same study, they also estimated the prevalence of depression among doctoral students at 24% 1 . That is almost one in every four students!

What percentage of doctoral students have thought about suicide? I had not even thought about answering this question, but I have heard of cases of suicide during the doctorate. The same review also tried to look at suicidal ideation (i.e., considering ending one’s own life), but the data from the studies was too small and heterogeneous 1 : the prevalence in the reviewed studies range from 2-12%. Hence, maybe 5% is a reasonable, kinda conservative guesstimate.

What percentage of doctoral students will never finish the PhD? Classic texts on the topic of doctoral dropout (or doctoral attrition, as it is often called in the literature) mention dropout rates in the 40-60% range 3 , with 10-20% higher rates in online/distance doctoral degrees (that’s 50-80%!) 4 . For triangulation, a more recent study in Belgium gave out a probable 38-45% of attrition 5 . Hence, estimating that 40% of doctoral students that start a PhD will never finish it, is not unreasonable (actually, I’d say it is very conservative, given that most institutions around the world will have less resources and will be less concerned about their doctoral students dropping out than the aforementioned Belgian university).

How many doctoral students are out there? A recent report for the UK Council for Graduate Education estimates that 2,882,975 doctoral students are enrolled in doctoral programs worldwide 6 . The author of the report acknowledges that this is also a conservative estimate, since there were several countries (and institutions) that were not accounted for in his data.

Putting these numbers together, we can thus give a (conservative) answer guesstimate to the questions we posed at the top of this post:

• 490,105 PhD students are suffering from anxiety right now.
• 691,914 PhD students are depressed right now.
• 144,149 of current PhD students have thought about suicide .
• 1,153,190 of current PhD students will not finish their studies.

How many PhD students suffer from dropout and mental health issues worldwide?

A hopeful note

Now that I see those numbers, this may be the most depressing post I’ve ever written here. Yet, despite the huge numbers, not everything is doom and gloom. Each of us, no matter how anxious or depressed (or convinced to drop out), still has free will. We still have a choice. Many options, actually 7 .

What these numbers show is that this is a real , very common problem. It is not an easy problem to solve (or someone would have solved it already); it is a global problem with many factors feeding into it – economic, social, institutional, personal… So, if you are part of one (or more) of these collectives, know that you are not alone . Many others are also suffering, and your response to this suffering is not unreasonable. There is nothing inherently wrong with you .

Once we realize that our situation is not that rare, the next step is to realize that it is OK to talk about it . Talk about it with whoever you trust: with your friends and family, with your colleagues, with your supervisor. Most universities and institutions have services or resources for counseling their students – use them! Seek professional help. It is not a sign of weakness to seek help.

Finally, know that there exist solutions for these problems , from big evidence-based therapy approaches like cognitive-behavioral therapy 8 (CBT) or acceptance and commitment therapy 9 (ACT)… but also small everyday gestures and practices (like connecting with our purpose to do the PhD , or getting out of our heads and continuing to do the work ).

Many have suffered from similar problems… and have been able to get out of them, finish their PhD, and learn a lot about research, academia and themselves. Even with extremely bad luck or circumstances, you can do it. You don’t need to be a genius with great luck to do a PhD.

Take care, and see you next week!

Were you surprised by the numbers I have given? Did you think they would be lower, or higher? Let us know in the comments section below!

Header image via Hippopx .

Satinsky, E. N., Kimura, T., Kiang, M. V., Abebe, R., Cunningham, S., Lee, H., Lin, X., Liu, C. H., Rudan, I., Sen, S., Tomlinson, M., Yaver, M., & Tsai, A. C. (2021). Systematic review and meta-analysis of depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation among Ph.D. students. Scientific Reports , 11 (1), 14370. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-93687-7 ↩︎

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Bair, C. R., & Haworth, J. G. (2005). Doctoral Student Attrition and Persistence: A Meta-Synthesis of Research. In J. C. Smart (Ed.), Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research (Vol. 19, pp. 481–534). Kluwer Academic Publishers. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-2456-8_11 ↩︎

Terrell, S. R., Snyder, M. M., Dringus, L. P., & Maddrey, E. (2012). A grounded theory of connectivity and persistence in a limited residency doctoral program. Qualitative Report , 17 , 62. ↩︎

Wollast, R., Boudrenghien, G., Van der Linden, N., Galand, B., Roland, N., Devos, C., De Clercq, M., Klein, O., Azzi, A., & Frenay, M. (2018). Who Are the Doctoral Students Who Drop Out? Factors Associated with the Rate of Doctoral Degree Completion in Universities. International Journal of Higher Education , 7 (4), 143. https://doi.org/10.5430/ijhe.v7n4p143 ↩︎

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For an interesting approach about how to come to discover these options, from a life and career advice perspective, see Burnett, W., & Evans, D. J. (2016). Designing your life: How to build a well-lived, joyful life . Knopf. ↩︎

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Luis P. Prieto

Luis P. is a Ramón y Cajal research fellow at the University of Valladolid (Spain), investigating learning technologies, especially learning analytics. He is also an avid learner about doctoral education and supervision, and he's the main author at the A Happy PhD blog.

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PhD completion: an evidence-based guide for students, supervisors and universities

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Many students enrol in a Master or PhD postgraduate research degree, but few complete them. From 2010-2016 , 437,030 domestic and international students enrolled in postgraduate research programs in Australian public universities. Only 65,101 completed within the same six year period.

This discrepancy does not necessarily mean postgraduate research students “failed” their degree. Common reasons not completing a degree include changes of career goals, work-family conflicts, poor health or financial strain. Alternatively, some students remain enrolled in their degree for long periods without making significant progress.

Even so, the discrepancy is large enough for universities to be concerned. Nobody wants a student to suffer through years of hard work and frustration without achieving their goal.

What does research say about completion rates?

Research has identified several factors that make students more likely to persist with their degrees. These factors are related to the students themselves, their supervisor, and the university environment.

Psychological studies of postgraduate students find the more successful ones tend to perceive themselves as competent and be intrinsically motivated . These are students who enjoy their topic area, perceive their postgraduate studies as a valuable learning experience, and who strongly identify with being a career researcher. Students who are motivated by external factors (such as pursuing a prestigious academic role) are more likely to say they want to quit.

Scholarship holders are more likely to complete their degrees. This is likely because they are academically stronger than non-scholarship holders and are less vulnerable to financial strain. Students can support themselves financially through teaching, research assistant roles or other work, but this must be balanced carefully. Part-time students are less likely to complete their degrees.

Students’ field of study also affects completion rates. A higher proportion of students in sciences tend to complete their degrees than those in arts and humanities. This is likely because students working in the sciences are more often involved in laboratory-based work in teams, where there is greater social support and knowledge exchange. People studying humanities more often work on their research alone.

A positive student-supervisor working relationship is critical. A good supervisor should be an expert in the student’s subject of choice and a supportive mentor. They should help the student navigate through the frustrations and uncertainties of writing a thesis, and help students adjust to the world of academia.

Students are also more likely to finish their research degrees if they have strong connections with their peers . Such connections help students develop their professional identity as researchers, as well as providing opportunities for social support and informal learning .

The quality of associated coursework is also important. Ideally, postgraduate programs should provide students with a sound foundation of research skills and content knowledge, and facilitate ongoing communication with their faculty.

Involvement in formal and informal professional activities is also important. Students who complete tend to participate in departmental events, such as research seminars and professional development workshops. They also tend to participate in academic conferences. These events allow students to learn and expand their networks.

What students and their supervisors should do

First, given the importance of the student-supervisor relationship, universities can provide advice to students about locating and approaching a suitable supervisor. Specifically, students should consider the research area they wish to work in and locate a supervisor with relevant expertise. They should approach supervisors with an openness to negotiating a research topic.

Read more: Ten types of PhD supervisor relationships – which is yours?

Both students and supervisors should be upfront about their expectations about how the supervision will work. An excellent starting point for discussion is the Expectations in Supervision questionnaire. Students and supervisors sometimes have mismatched expectations about how often they should meet, the amount of feedback the supervisor should provide on drafts, and how much counselling and emotional support the supervisor should provide.

Supervisors have an important role in providing a realistic preview of academic life. One useful exercise is to review an academic competency model, such as the Vitae Researcher Development Framework , to discuss which skills academics need. In addition to knowledge of their topic area and research methods, academics increasingly need to be good at managing complex projects, working in multidisciplinary teams, and engaging with industry and media.

This discussion should enable supervisors and students to plan how students will develop their capabilities. Alternatively, it could prompt some students to opt out of a research degree if they think an academic role is not compatible with their goals.

What universities should do

As well as providing research training, universities can also increase the capabilities of students by helping them understand self-handicapping patterns. These include busyness, procrastination and disorganisation.

Students can be guided to replace these with more helpful actions such as scheduling dedicated writing time, reframing difficult tasks as learning opportunities, and developing a work routine. This could be done as part of a workshop or supervisory relationship.

Universities should also encourage greater connectedness between research students to build social support. This could be accomplished through team-based activities or face-to-face events.

For instance, some universities offer Three Minute Thesis , a research communication competition where students present their work in under 180 seconds.

Some universities organise Shut Up and Write sessions, which turns writing into a social experience and limits distractions. These activities can be complemented by encouraging students to become involved in supportive online communities and blogging .

Read more: The rise of writing events gives PhD students the support often lacking in universities

Finally, universities should be dedicated to helping academics develop as supervisors through ongoing training and coaching. Departments could consider tracking the progression of students and ensuring supervisors have the time and skills to take on new students.

Completing a dissertation can be richly rewarding, but it’s the endpoint of a process that’s often long, frustrating and uncertain. Helping students achieve their research aspirations makes academic life a better experience for all involved.

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Why do students consider dropping out of doctoral degrees? Institutional and personal factors

• Published: 04 January 2017
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Despite the increasing popularity of doctoral education, many students do not complete their studies, and very little information is available about them. Understanding why some students consider that they do not want to, or cannot, continue with their studies is essential to reduce dropout rates and to improve the overall quality of doctoral programmes. This study focuses on the motives students give for considering dropping out of their doctoral degree. Participants were 724 social sciences doctoral students from 56 Spanish universities, who responded to a questionnaire containing doctoral degree conditions questions and an open-ended question on motives for dropping out. Results showed that a third of the sample, mainly the youngest, female and part time students, stated that they had intended to drop out. The most frequent motives for considering dropping out were difficulties in achieving a balance between work, personal life and doctoral studies and problems with socialization. Overall, results offer a complex picture that has implications for the design of doctoral programmes, such as the conditions and demands of part-time doctoral studies or the implementation of educational proposals that facilitate students’ academic and personal integration into the scientific community in order to prevent the development of a culture of institutional neglect.

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Acknowledgements

This study was partially funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Societal Challenges R+D+i programme FINS-RIDSS -CSO2013-41108-R and Researcher Training programme BES-2014-068397) and the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports (University Professor Training programme FPU13/06957).

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• 13 November 2019

The mental health of PhD researchers demands urgent attention

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Performance management — captured here in photographs from Frank Gilbreth — has long contributed to ill health in researchers. Credit: Kheel Centre

Two years ago, a student responding to Nature ’s biennial PhD survey called on universities to provide a quiet room for “crying time” when the pressures caused by graduate study become overwhelming. At that time , 29% of 5,700 respondents listed their mental health as an area of concern — and just under half of those had sought help for anxiety or depression caused by their PhD study.

Things seem to be getting worse.

Respondents to our latest survey of 6,300 graduate students from around the world, published this week, revealed that 71% are generally satisfied with their experience of research, but that some 36% had sought help for anxiety or depression related to their PhD.

These findings echo those of a survey of 50,000 graduate students in the United Kingdom also published this week. Respondents to this survey, carried out by Advance HE, a higher-education management training organization based in York, UK, were similarly positive about their research experiences, but 86% report marked levels of anxiety — a much higher percentage than in the general population. Similar data helped to prompt the first international conference dedicated to the mental health and well-being of early-career researchers in May. Tellingly, the event sold out .

How can graduate students be both broadly satisfied, but also — and increasingly — unwell? One clue can be found elsewhere in our survey. One-fifth of respondents reported being bullied; and one-fifth also reported experiencing harassment or discrimination.

Could universities be taking more effective action? Undoubtedly. Are they? Not enough. Of the respondents who reported concerns, one-quarter said that their institution had provided support, but one-third said that they had had to seek help elsewhere.

There’s another, and probably overarching, reason for otherwise satisfied students to be stressed to the point of ill health. Increasingly, in many countries, career success is gauge by a spectrum of measurements that include publications, citations, funding, contributions to conferences and, now, whether a person’s research has a positive impact on people, the economy or the environment. Early-career jobs tend to be precarious. To progress, a researcher needs to be hitting the right notes in regard to the measures listed above in addition to learning the nuts and bolts of their research topics — concerns articulated in a series of columns and blog posts from the research community published last month.

Most students embark on a PhD as the foundation of an academic career. They choose such careers partly because of the freedom and autonomy to discover and invent. But problems can arise when autonomy in such matters is reduced or removed — which is what happens when targets for funding, impact and publications become part of universities’ formal monitoring and evaluation systems. Moreover, when a student’s supervisor is also the judge of their success or failure, it’s no surprise that many students feel unable to open up to them about vulnerabilities or mental-health concerns.

The solution to this emerging crisis does not lie solely in institutions doing more to provide on-campus mental-health support and more training for supervisors — essential though such actions are. It also lies in recognizing that mental ill-health is, at least in part, a consequence of an excessive focus on measuring performance — something that funders, academic institutions, journals and publishers must all take responsibility for.

Much has been written about how to overhaul the system and find a better way to define success in research, including promoting the many non-academic careers that are open to researchers. But on the ground, the truth is that the system is making young people ill and they need our help. The research community needs to be protecting and empowering the next generation of researchers. Without systemic change to research cultures, we will otherwise drive them away.

Nature 575 , 257-258 (2019)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-03489-1

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What’s worse than getting a ph.d. in today’s job market not finishing one..

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When I first began my Ph.D., I kept hearing other graduate students bandy about the term “ABD,” but I had no idea what it meant. Arrested Botox Detonation? Anointed Between Demigods? I didn’t dare ask, because Rule No. 1 of Grad School Fight Club is that you never admit that you don’t know something in public. (“Oh, Phenomenology of Spirit ? I’ll have to re -read that this semester.”)

Eventually, I figured it out: ABD stands for “all but dissertation,” a description of a student who has finished coursework and passed comprehensive exams, but has yet to complete and defend the doctoral thesis. Today, the Ph.D. Completion Project estimates that the ten-year completion rate (that is, someone’s status a decade after they begin) is 55–64 percent in STEM , 56 percent in the social sciences, and 49 percent in the humanities. Not all Ph.D. dropouts advance to the dissertation stage before they leave—but since the project’s charts start leveling out around Year 8 (the dissertation begins in Year 3 or 4), it’s safe to assume a hell of a lot do.

Aside from the obvious professional consequences (it’s hard enough get a job with a doctorate!), there are also psychological ramifications to leaving grad school without finishing. Last month, Jill Yesko, an ABD in geography, took to Inside Higher Education with a wrenchingly honest look at how she and many of her fellow ABDs feel:

Only in the parallel universe of academia is it possible to log years of Herculean scholarship, write and defend a complex dissertation proposal, and – upon failing to complete one’s dissertation – come away with nothing to show but the humiliation of not being recognized by the academic industrial complex for one’s blood, sweat and uncompensated toil.

Many programs do disown their dropouts, refusing to write letters of recommendation and often cutting off all contact. But the anger, disappointment, and betrayal Yesko expresses here reveal far more about the lasting emotional damage that leaving graduate school can cause. It is, in fact, especially wrenching to students who never envisioned a life outside of academia (and, often having gone directly from college to graduate school, have never lived one). In recent years, many , many online resources have sprung up to offer academic cast-asides the support they otherwise lack.

Speaking of which: Reaction on IHE to Yesko’s piece—and her solution, to offer a new kind of degree between an M.A. and a doctorate—was a snide pile-on. “Can we make sure that the Certificate of Doctoral Completion also comes with a little plastic trophy and a large green ribbon signaling excellent participation?” sniped one commenter. Added another: “These degrees aren’t soccer trophies for young childrens [ sic ] whose spirit might get crushed. Terminal ABD has a meaning: Failure.” And you, dear reader, may also feel, right this second, as if those who leave Ph.D. programs simply couldn’t hack it.

Maybe they couldn’t. But that’s nothing to be ashamed of. Dissertations—some 250 pages of original research in the humanities, and topping 400 in the social sciences—are objectively, indisputably difficult. It sometimes takes years just to collect data or comb through the necessary archives, and then the damn thing must be written, often in total isolation. Dissertations are not impossible, but they are very hard, and most people in the world—including, perhaps, you, my friend—cannot complete one.

There are innumerable reasons for this, and I know them all, because when I quit academia , I started working for a company that “coaches” dissertators who are blocked, stalled, or simply in need of some practical guidance. Thus, I happen to have firsthand knowledge of the countless obstacles put in the way of ABDs—by outside forces, and by themselves—because it is my job to.

First, the outside hindrances: Some advisers are helpful and supportive. But many run the gamut between absentee, excoriating, and micromanagerial. There are the advisers who retire, leave, or even die. Then there’s the total lack of preparedness for such an extensive and rigorous project: A seminar paper is a 5K fun run; a dissertation is an ultramarathon . And in the social sciences and STEM fields, there are data sets or experiments that simply fall apart.

Then there are the inner hindrances, the ones that cause procrastination, and then shame, and then paralysis. Here’s my favorite: believing, erroneously, that one must read and master every single word of existing scholarship before even beginning to write. Here’s my least favorite (which happens to my clients all the time): refusing to turn in any chapter that isn’t perfect, and thus not turning in anything at all—which results in the adviser getting irate, which puts even more pressure on the student to be even more perfect, ad infinitum . This is how dissertations are stalled, often forever.

So what can be done to fix this? The Izzy Mandelbaums of academia may argue the system is fine the way it is : In a field that requires extended independent work to succeed, the trial by fire of the dissertation is an apt initiation. (“All aboard the pain train!”) But does it have to be this way? I see no reason why, for example, more dissertation advisers couldn’t be enthusiastic about seeing early drafts, to provide guidance and support. Some already do this (mine did), but far too many of my clients say their advisers won’t even look at anything that isn’t “polished.” Every adviser who says this is part of the problem.

Another step in the right direction would be not just to hold dissertation workshops, but also to make them mandatory. A lot of grad students are simply too paralyzed (or ashamed to admit they don’t know what they’re doing) to attend one of their own volition. A mandatory workshop frees them to get the help they need, without having to admit they need help.

And, most importantly, though I’m not sold on Yesko’s idea for an in-between degree, Ph.D. programs need to stop disowning the students who do not graduate. Whatever inconvenience a jilted adviser suffers from an ABD is nothing compared with the ABD’s fractured life and career. The least an adviser can do is write a letter. And, finally, along with the current drive to require programs to publicize their real (i.e., full-time) job placement rates , so should they be compelled to list attrition.

Finally, here’s what ABDs can do to help themselves. Dare to stop reading and start writing, and revel in an early draft that is an unabashed hot mess. Realize that the greatest misconception of dissertation writers is that the project must be perfect. In fact, for a career academic, the dissertation should actually be the worst thing you ever write.

Sure, the best way to avoid the psychic wounds of not completing the dissertation is to squeeze that bad boy out any way you can. But we must also remember that students leave Ph.D. programs for innumerable reasons, usually complex combinations of things in and out of their control. Terminal ABDs will work for much of their lives to overcome what is at best a sense of lingering incompleteness, and at worst lasting anguish and damage. But it is the academic establishment’s treatment of those who fail initiation—disowning, shame, refusal to reveal attrition—that is one of its dirtiest secrets. 

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7 Reasons Why Bright Students Drop Out of Grad School

January 4, 2018 by Dora Farkas, PhD 13 Comments

  Dropping Out of Grad School Is A Silent Epidemic

Dropping out of grad school has a high financial and emotional cost for students and their families.

Every year about 50% of grad students drop out of doctoral programs.

But, none of my professors told me this when I decided to apply to a PhD program.

In fact, I never thought that after 5 years I would consider dropping out of grad school.

I entered grad school assuming that there would be a clear path to my PhD degree.

I thought that if I followed all of my supervisor’s advice, I would be guaranteed a doctoral thesis and  graduate on time.

In my first year of graduate school I completed almost all of my coursework, and I started working in the lab part-time.

I soon realized, however, that there was no direct path to finish my thesis. 

Unlike in college, we didn’t have clear milestones or a structured support system.

Like many first year students I was ambitious and I wanted to impress my supervisor.

I worked 12-14 hour days, and I worked on most weekends too.

By the end of my first year, I was exhausted, but I had made little progress on my research.

Soon, I became disappointed in myself because in spite of working long hours, I was not able to generate data for a thesis proposal.

I had performed well in college, but I did not know how to succeed in a research environment.

I saw some of peers (who had perfect GPAs in college) struggle as well, and I started to realize that the problem was not that I was not smart enough to get a PhD.

The reason I was frustrated, was that college did not prepare me for graduate school.

In order to complete a graduate-level dissertation, you need to be own project manager.

You need to have the confidence to resolve disputes with your supervisor.

These are skills that almost nobody learns in college.

It is no wonder that almost every graduate students considers dropping out of grad school.

But now, you can learn these skills, finish your thesis, and succeed in your career.

Why Do Bright Students Drop Out of Graduate School?

Some students consider dropping out of grad school because they realize that a doctoral degree does not support their long-term goals.

If you feel that your graduate degree is not in alignment with your professional aspirations, then it is worth considering changing paths.

The demands of graduate school are higher than those of college.

You will probably not have as many all-nighters, but you will work long hours for extended periods of time, and you don’t get well-deserved breaks at the end of each semester.

Bright students, who excelled in college, are sometimes overwhelmed by the scope of their projects in graduate school.

After years of frustration, tens of thousands of doctoral students consider dropping out of grad school every year.

They don’t drop out of grad school because they aren’t smart enough to finish.

Rather, many students are not able to manage their projects, or integrate into the academic lifestyle .

Without the right project management skills, you will probably feel overwhelmed and burned out most of the time.

7 Reasons that Doctoral Students Consider Quitting Grad School

1. time managements problems.

Graduate school is an unstructured environment.

Unless you have the discipline to set up your own schedule and stick to it, you will get distracted by interruptions.

If you get caught up in putting out daily fires, you will fall behind on your milestones.

Or, you might feel compelled to sacrifice your personal time to catch up in your research.

Eventually, these conflicts can become too overwhelming, and students think about dropping out of grad school.

2. Conflicts with supervisor

One of the biggest frustrations that graduate students have is that they are not able to resolve conflicts with their supervisors.

Most students don’t have the assertiveness skills to voice their opinions confidently.

Instead, they follow their supervisor’s instructions and in order to avoid conflict.

In some cases there is a significant mismatch between the students and the supervisors.

Either they don’t get enough supervision, or they get too much (in the case of micromanager supervisors).

Conflicts can escalate to the point where a student is no longer able to do their work and they either switch groups or drop out of graduate school.

3. Your thesis doesn’t have a story

The toughest part of research is not the collection of data, but the definition of the research question and the setup of the methodology.

Once the research is question well-defined and the methodology is optimized, the collection of data is straightforward.

Most students start out with a well-defined thesis project, but due to many dead-ends they may switch directions several times.

They lose sight of the “main question” that their thesis is trying to answer.

Lack of a clearly-defined thesis question leads to poor quality data.

If your thesis doesn’t tell a cohesive story, most committees will not approve it.

4. Exhaustion or burnout

Long hours at work for extended periods of time can lead to exhaustion, and reduced performance.

When students fall behind on their milestones, they sometimes try to catch up by working even longer hours.

Eventually, this stress leads to burnout, which is characterized by constant fatigue.

On the long run, stress can even lead to chronic health problems, and reduce performance and personal happiness.

  5. Problems writing up thesis

There are many reasons that students have trouble writing their thesis.

In most cases it is due to a lack of experience in writing such an extensive manuscript, summarizing years of research.

Perfectionism can also take its toll during the writing phase, when students keep rewriting the same paragraphs over and over again.

Writer’s block happens when you feel unable to put any words on the page.

It can affect you at any phase during grad school.

This can be due to personal problems (worrying or feeling guilty), or the inability to organize large amounts of information into a cohesive thesis.

6. Loss of interest in research

After years of dead-end projects or writer’s blocks, some students realize that the research environment is not for them after all.

Despite the high emotional cost, they consider dropping out of grad school and go back to working full-time.

They might leave with a Masters degree and follow other career paths such as law school, medical school, or technical sales.

This can be a good decision if you realize that academic research does not make the best use of your skills and talents.

However, be sure to have an “exit plan” before leaving.

For example, have a job lined up to pay the bills or a plan to continue your education in another direction.

7. Feeling of isolation

Feelings of isolation can lead to loss of motivation and focus.

Most college students have a structured support system – either through their courses or in their dormitories.

In many graduate schools there is no organized support system.

Without a structured support system, some students linger in graduate school for years without having a clear direction of why they are in grad school.

A support system can provide you with the necessary coping skills to get through graduate school.

When you regularly connect with positive people, you will develop the emotional stamina necessary to finish your thesis.

Dropping Out of Grad School Won’t Make You Feel Better

5 steps to save your phd thesis, 1. always know what question your thesis is asking.

In order to get to your destination (a finished thesis), you need to know where your destination is (what question your thesis is asking).

Without a well-defined question, you will be collecting data but not building a story that can be converted into a thesis.

You, your supervisor and your thesis committee must agree on the question (or central hypothesis) of your thesis before you start developing your methodology and collecting data.

2. Develop realistic milestones

After you have defined your thesis question, the next step is to develop a plan – or a roadmap.

How will you answer the question?

As most theses projects span years, you need to break down your research into shorter-term milestones that are realistic.

These milestones will probably change because research is unpredictable.

However, you need to have an initial plan (that is approved by your committee), so you can keep your thesis on track.

If you hit a major roadblock, or hit a dead-end, let your supervisor know so that you can adjust you plan accordingly.

3. Structure your schedule

Working 10-12 hours straight is not healthy, nor productive.

It is very difficult to keep yourself focused for such long periods of time.

Most successful people divide up their days into short segments of high level focus.

They might spend a few hours at work, then take a break,and then return to work for a few more hours in the afternoon.

When you divide up your day into segments, it is easier to focus fully on the task at hand, without getting distracted by emails.

Breaks for lunch or exercise are a great way to give your creative mind a chance.

Did you ever notice that the best ideas come to you when you are not at your desk?

4. Speak openly with your supervisor

A common mistake that students make is to “hide” from their supervisors when they run into challenges.

They try to solve all their problems on their own, because they are embarrassed to admit that they made a mistake.

The purpose of a PhD program is to learn to become an independent researcher.

Thus, it is a good idea to try to solve your problems on your own first.

However if you realize that you don’t have the necessary expertise or resources, you need to let your supervisor know about it.

Remember it is in your supervisor’s interest that you succeed.

Many of my coaching clients were surprised at the amount of support that they received from their supervisors once they spoke about their challenges openly.

5. Join a supportive community

The number one advice that PhDs give to graduate students is to “ Join a thesis writing support group.”

A support group can be a safe place to discuss topics that you may not be comfortable sharing with your coworkers.

Sensitive topics include conflicts with your supervisor, writing blocks, or possibly dropping out of grad school.

A support group also provides accountability, so that you stay on track with your milestones.

Communities outside your university can also provide you with emotional support to finish your thesis.

When other people believe in you and support you, you will gain the confidence needed to get through the challenges of graduate school.

No one writes their thesis alone. Get support. You have what it takes.

Are you feeling alone and looking for a community & accountability to finish writing your Dissertation?

Having accountability through a community of other PhD students is one of the best ways to become and stay motivated until you finish writing your Dissertation

Check out our 21 Day Dissertation Writing Challenge and Finish Your PhD 

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What Do We Know About Who Drops Out and Why?

On this page:, predictors and factors associated with dropping out for students with disabilities, implications for designing interventions, reasons for dropping out and for staying in school, for students with disabilities, who drops out of school.

Many studies have identified predictors and variables associated with dropping out. In recent years, these variables have been categorized according to the extent to which they can be influenced to change the trajectory leading to dropout. Status variables (e.g., socioeconomic standing [SES], disability or ability level, family structure) are difficult and unlikely to change. On the other hand, alterable variables (e.g. attendance, identification with school) are easier to change and can usually be influenced by students, parents, educators, and community members. Alterable variables are the focus of efforts to increase school completion.

Overview of status variables associated with dropping out

These statements apply to groups of students on average.

• Age. Students who drop out tend to be older compared to their grade-level peers.
• Gender. Students who drop out are more likely to be male. Females who drop out often do so due to reasons associated with pregnancy.
• Socioeconomic background. Dropouts are more likely to come from low-income families.
• Ethnicity. The rate of dropout is higher on average for Black, Hispanic, and Native American youth.
• Native language. Students who come from non-English speaking backgrounds are more likely to have higher rates of dropout.
• Region. Students are more likely to drop out if they live in urban settings as compared to suburban or nonmetropolitan areas. Dropout rates are higher in the South and West than in the Northeast region of the U.S.
• Mobility. High levels of household mobility contribute to increased likelihood of dropping out.
• Ability. Lower scores on measures of cognitive ability are associated with higher rates of dropout.
• Disability. Students with disabilities (especially those with emotional/behavioral disabilities) are at greater risk of dropout.
• Parental employment. Dropouts are more likely to come from families in which the parents are unemployed.
• School size and type. School factors that have been linked to dropout include school type and large school size.
• Family structure. Students who come from single-parent families are at greater risk of dropout.

(Macmillan, 1991; Rosenthal, 1998; Rumberger, 1995; Wolman, Bruininks, & Thurlow, 1989).

Overview of alterable variables associated with dropping out

• Grades. Students with poor grades are at greater risk of dropout.
• Disruptive behavior. Students who drop out are more likely to have exhibited behavioral and disciplinary problems in school.
• Absenteeism. Rate of attendance is a strong predictor of dropout.
• School policies. Alterable school policies associated with dropout include raising academic standards without providing supports, tracking, and frequent use of suspension.
• School climate. Positive school climate is associated with lower rates of dropout.
• Parenting. Homes characterized by permissive parenting styles have been linked with higher rates of dropout.
• Sense of belonging. Alienation and decreased levels of participation in school have been associated with increased likelihood of dropout.
• Attitudes toward school. The beliefs and attitudes (e.g., locus of control, motivation to achieve) that students hold toward school are important predictors of dropout.
• Educational support in the home. Students whose families provide higher levels of educational support for learning are less likely to drop out.
• Retention. Students who drop out are more likely to have been retained than students who graduate. Using National Education Longitudinal Study data, being held back was identified as the single biggest predictor of dropping out.
• Stressful life events. Increased levels of stress and the presence of stressors (e.g., financial difficulty, health problems, early parenthood) are associated with increased rates of dropout.

(Macmillan, 1991; Rosenthal, 1998; Rumberger, 1995; Wolman et al., 1989).

The number of research studies examining correlates and predictors of dropout for students with disabilities is much smaller than the number examining dropout for the general school population. However, the research that has been conducted points to status variables associated with dropout that are similar for both groups of students. Status variables associated with greater likelihood of dropout for students with disabilities on average include low SES, non-English speaking, or Hispanic home background (Wagner et al., 1991). Additionally, students with emotional/behavioral disorders who drop out tend to be older and are more likely to have parents who are unemployed and have less education (Lehr, 1996).

Alterable variables associated with dropout have also been identified for students with disabilities, and many are similar to findings for students without disabilities. Alterable variables associated with increased risk of dropout include high rates of absenteeism and tardiness (Zigmond & Thornton, 1985), low grades and a history of course failure (Thompson-Hoffman & Hayward, 1990), limited parental support, low participation in extracurricular activities, alcohol or drug problems (Jay & Padilla, 1987), and negative attitudes toward school (MacMillan, 1991). High levels of school mobility (Sinclair et al., 1994) and retention in grade are also associated with dropout for students with disabilities. One study found that 90% of students with learning disabilities who repeated a grade dropped out (Zigmond & Thornton, 1985).

The level of services received (e.g., amount of time designated for special education service), the way services are delivered (e.g., pull-out or mainstream) and the kinds of services being provided (e.g., counseling, vocational guidance) have also been studied and associated with dropout for students with disabilities (Wagner, 1995). Students with emotional/behavioral disorders were less likely to drop out if they spent more time being mainstreamed, received tutoring services, and were in schools that maintained high expectations of special education students. Lower rates of dropout are also associated with receipt of instruction emphasizing independent-living skills and training for competitive employment (Bruininks, Thurlow, Lewis, & Larson, 1988). In addition, high numbers of school transfers (mobility) and frequent changes in the level of services received have been associated with increased likelihood of dropout (Edgar, 1987; Wagner, 1995).

Despite the extensive list of variables and predictors associated with dropout, none is a reliable predictor of whether a particular student will leave school early. However, the presence of multiple risk factors does increase the risk of dropout. The challenge lies in using this information to help those students who are most in need of intervention based on efficient and accurate predictors. In a review of 41 interventions, over half based participant selection on two or more criteria associated with dropout (Lehr et al., 2003). The most common referral criterion for eligible participants was history of academic performance, followed by attendance. Referral criteria relying on a small number of predictors is likely to lead to under-identification of students placed at risk of dropping out, and over-identification of other students on track to graduate (Dynarski & Gleason, 2002). Targeting students who are most likely to drop out for intervention is complex. In fact, analysis shows

[t]he majority of dropouts are not those who seem to be most at risk. That is, although the dropout rate for Blacks is 50 percent higher than for Whites, and twice as high for Hispanics, 66 percent of the actual dropouts are White, while just 17 percent are Black and 13 percent are Hispanic. Moreover, most dropouts are not from broken homes, not poor, and not pregnant. Consequently, if our graduation rate is to climb to 90 percent, it will have to be achieved by putting greater emphasis on retaining students whose background and behavior are not generally thought of as the defining characteristics of students who drop out. (U.S. Department of Education, 2000, p. 1; as cited in Schargel & Smink, 2001)

Recognizing the difference between variables that educators and others can influence and those that are relatively static is important when designing and implementing interventions to enhance school completion for students with and without disabilities. It makes sense to develop strategies for reducing dropout based on information about alterable variables linked to increased rates of school completion. Promising strategies include targeting dropout-prone students before high school, providing additional support (e.g., guidance, counseling), tutoring, and monitoring indicators of risk to guide intervention. School-related factors positively associated with school performance and completion rates include (a) providing direct, individualized tutoring and support to complete homework assignments, attend class, and stay focused on school; (b) participation in vocational education classes; and (c) participation in community-based work experience programs (Wagner, Blackorby, & Hebbeler, 1993). Factors that are related to better outcomes for students with emotional/behavioral disorders include permitting flexibility in course selection (e.g., offering vocational courses), supporting social integration (e.g., participation in school-affiliated groups), and collaborating with mental health agencies to meet the needs of students (Wagner, 1995).

Many researchers have used surveys and interviews to gather information about why students drop out of school. These studies typically identify reasons students give for leaving school; these reasons have been characterized as “push” effects and “pull” effects (Jordan, McPartland, & Lara, 1999). Push effects include situations or experiences within the school environment that intensify feelings of alienation, failure, and the desire to drop out. Pull effects include factors that are external to the school environment that divert students from the path leading towards school completion. Reasons for leaving school that have been identified in the literature include problems getting along with teachers, suspension and expulsion, low grades, pregnancy, financial responsibilities, disliking school, care-taking responsibilities, and employment. Students most often cite push factors as reasons for dropping out of school. The decision to drop out most often involves multiple factors (Kortering & Braziel, 1999).

Fewer studies have been conducted on students’ reasons for staying in school. However, the following list has been developed based on a synthesis of information from a variety of studies (Christenson, Sinclair, Lehr, & Hurley, 2000).

• Supportive, nurturing family and home environment
• Interaction with and the involvement of committed, concerned educators and other adults
• Development of perseverance and optimism
• Improved attitude toward school and increased motivation to obtain a diploma
• Positive, respectful relationships between staff and students
• Satisfaction with the learning experience (e.g., social climate, instructional climate, school course offerings, and school rules)
• Relevance of curriculum
• Fair discipline policies

Information from interviews with students with disabilities who have dropped out can be used to increase the holding power of schools. When asked, students with disabilities indicated a desire for instruction in a challenging and relevant curriculum to prepare them for life after school. Lack of a relevant high school curriculum appears repeatedly as a main reason given by students with and without disabilities for dropping out of school or pursuing alternative education services (Guterman, 1995; Lichtenstein, 1993). In addition, student comments from individual interviews suggest factors that might facilitate staying in school. These include changes in personal attitude or effort, changes in attendance and discipline policies, and more support from teachers (Kortering & Braziel, 1999). Recommendations based on student perspectives with respect to keeping students in school included increased positive attitudes toward students from teachers and administrators and improvements in curriculum and instruction (e.g., additional assistance, better teaching, more interesting classes, better textbooks). Students also indicated that their own attitudes play an important role in the decision to remain in school or exit early.

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One big reason why women drop out of doctoral STEM programs

The fewer women in entering class, the less likely they’ll stay.

Many women in doctoral degree programs in fields like engineering and physics are in a class of their own – and that’s not a good thing.

A new study found that the fewer females who enter a doctoral program at the same time, the less likely any one of them will graduate within six years.

In the worst-case scenario – where there’s just one woman in a new class – she is 12 percentage points less likely to graduate within six years than her male classmates, the study found.

The findings suggest that the “female-friendliness” of doctoral programs may play a key role in the gender gap in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) fields.

“It has been nearly impossible to quantify the climate for women in male-dominated STEM fields,” said Valerie Bostwick, co-author of the study and a post-doctoral researcher in economics at The Ohio State University .

“But our data gave us a unique opportunity to try to measure what it is like for women in STEM. What we found suggests that if there are few or no other women in your incoming class, it can make it more difficult to complete your degree.”

Bostwick conducted the research with Bruce Weinberg , professor of economics at Ohio State. Their results will be published Monday, Sept. 17 on the website of the National Bureau of Economic Research .

A key advantage of this data is that it shows when and if students drop out – something that most data sets on graduate students don’t show.

“Most datasets are based on students who graduate – they don’t see you if you don’t get your degree,” Bostwick said. “That makes it impossible to find out why students drop out.”

This study examined all 2,541 students who enrolled in 33 graduate programs at six Ohio public universities between 2005 and 2016.

Overall, the average incoming class of doctoral programs included about 17 students and was about 38 percent female. But there was wide variation in class sizes and the percentage of female students.

The researchers separated the programs into those that were typically male and typically female. Typically male programs (including chemical engineering, computer science and physics) were those that were less than 38.5 percent female.

In typically male programs, the average number of women who joined a class in any particular year was less than five.

The study shows the importance for women of having a support system of other women in their entering class, Weinberg said.

A woman joining a class that was more male than typical for her doctoral program was about 7 percent less likely to graduate within six years than were her male peers.

“But if there were more women than average in the program, that graduation gap goes away,” Weinberg said.

Findings showed that when women dropped out of male-dominated programs, they usually did it in the first year. Women who joined a doctoral class with no other females were 10 percentage points more likely to drop out in that first year.

The researchers looked at two potential reasons why women may be dropping out: research funding and grades.

If female students were less likely to obtain research funding than their male peers, that could be an important reason why they’re failing to finish. But the study found no real differences in funding for men and women.

Results did show that women had slightly lower grades than men when they were in male-dominated classes. Women who joined a class with no other females had first-term GPAs that were 0.11 grade points lower than their male peers.

“That’s not enough to make a big difference,” Bostwick said. “We estimate that grades could not explain more than a quarter of the difference between the number of women and men who graduate within six years.”

Bostwick said that if grades or research funding are not the main reason for why women are not completing their STEM degrees, that suggests the reason must be something that can’t be directly measured: the academic climate for women.

“We can only speculate about what it is in the climate that is making it more difficult for women,” Bostwick said.

“It may be hard to feel like you belong when you don’t see other women around you. There may be subtle discrimination. We don’t know. But it highlights the fact that women need support, particularly if they are the only ones entering a doctoral class. They need to know about resources that could help them, particularly in that first key year.”

The research was supported by grants from the National Institute on Aging , the National Institutes of Health’s Office of Behavioral and Social Science Research , the National Science Foundation , the National Bureau of Economic Research and the Ewing Marion Kauffman and Alfred P. Sloan foundations.

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Hispanic enrollment reaches new high at four-year colleges in the U.S., but affordability remains an obstacle

Hispanic enrollment at postsecondary institutions in the United States has seen an exponential increase over the last few decades, rising from 1.5 million in 2000 to a new high of 3.8 million in 2019 – partly reflecting the group’s rapid growth as a share of the overall U.S. population.

However, the COVID-19 pandemic brought a decline in postsecondary enrollment among Hispanics and most other racial and ethnic groups. In fall 2020, there were 640,000 fewer students – including nearly 100,000 fewer Hispanics – enrolled at U.S. colleges and universities than in the previous year, according to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).

The decline for Hispanics, and other racial and ethnic groups, in 2020 was driven by a drop in enrollment at two-year institutions. Hispanic enrollment at two-year colleges declined by about 230,000, or 15%, from 2019 to 2020. It appears that this trend continued into fall 2021, as there was a decline in the number of higher education institutions where Hispanics make up at least 25% of students – known as Hispanic-Serving Institutions – from 569 in fall 2020 to 559 in fall 2021 . (NCES has not yet released postsecondary enrollment data for fall 2021.)

Hispanic enrollment at four-year institutions, by contrast, continued to rise even during the first year of the pandemic, increasing by about 140,000 students, or 6%, from 2019 to 2020. Hispanic enrollment at such institutions has increased every year for decades. Between 2000 and 2020, the number of Latinos enrolled at four-year institutions jumped from 620,000 to 2.4 million, a 287% increase. By comparison, overall student enrollment at four-year institutions in the U.S. grew by 50% during this time.

This Pew Research Center analysis about Hispanics and college enrollment relies on data from sources including the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) and the Census Bureau’s 2021 Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement (IPUMS).

To explore the factors contributing to the gap among racial and ethnic groups in college completion, we surveyed 9,676 U.S. adults between Oct. 18-24, 2021. Everyone who took part is a member of the Center’s American Trends Panel (ATP), an online survey panel that is recruited through national, random sampling of residential addresses. This way nearly all U.S. adults have a chance of selection. The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education and other categories. Read more about the ATP’s methodology .

Here are the survey questions used for this report, along with responses, and  its methodology .

Latinos make up a growing share of all students enrolled at postsecondary institutions. In 1980, there were about 470,000 Latinos enrolled at degree-granting postsecondary institutions, accounting for 4% of all students. By 2000, Latino enrollment had increased to 1.5 million, or 10% of all students. And by 2020, 3.7 million Latinos were enrolled, accounting for a fifth of all postsecondary students.

Asian enrollment at postsecondary institutions has also grown sharply in recent decades, though not as quickly as Hispanic enrollment. The Asian share of postsecondary students nearly quadrupled from 2% in 1980 to 8% in 2020. The share of postsecondary students who are Black increased far more slowly, from 9% in 1980 to 13% in 2020, while White students saw a considerable decrease in their share of enrollment, from 84% to 54%.

Despite growing enrollment, relatively small shares of young Hispanics are enrolled in college or have obtained a bachelor’s degree. In 2021, about three-in-ten Latinos ages 18 to 24 (32%) were enrolled at least part time in college, a similar share to Black Americans (33%) and a lower share than among White (37%) and Asian (58%) adults of the same age, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of Current Population Survey data. Among Latinos, some 35% of young women 18 to 24 were enrolled at least part time in college in 2021, compared with 28% of men of the same age group.    

In 2021, about a quarter of Latinos ages 25 to 29 (23%) had earned a bachelor’s degree, up from 14% in 2010. A similar share of Black Americans in this age group (26%) had obtained a bachelor’s degree, while 45% of White Americans and 72% of Asian Americans ages 25 to 29 had done so. Hispanic women ages 25 to 29 were more likely than Hispanic men in the same age range to have a college degree (27% vs. 20%) – a pattern also seen among other racial and ethnic groups.

Overall, a 62% majority of U.S. adults ages 25 and older do not have a bachelor’s degree, including about eight-in-ten Hispanics (79%).

Financial constraints a major reason why Hispanics do not finish a four-year degree

Financial considerations are a key reason why Americans overall do not complete a four-year degree, and this is particularly true for Hispanics, according to an October 2021 Pew Research Center survey .

Among Latinos who do not have a bachelor’s degree and are not enrolled in school, about seven-in-ten Latinos (71%) say a major or minor reason why is that they need to work to help support family, while 69% say they couldn’t afford a four-year degree.

Affordability restrictions may include the overall cost of college, lack of reliable transportation or a desire to not take on debt. Hispanics are more likely than other students to avoid taking on debt and more likely to report difficulties paying back student loans .

Personal factors also play a role in college completion. Close to half of Hispanics who have not obtained a four-year degree (47%) say they just did not want to pursue one. There is a notable difference by gender, with 54% of Hispanic men and 40% of Hispanic women citing this as a reason for not finishing college.

Other factors play a role, too. Among Latinos without a bachelor’s degree, about four-in-ten (42%) say they did not think they would get into a four-year college – a significantly higher share than among White Americans (22%). In addition, 37% of Latinos without a bachelor’s degree say they did not think they needed a four-year degree for the job or career they wanted. This is similar to the share of Black Americans who say the same, (41%) but lower than the share of White Americans (49%).

Note: Here are the survey questions used for this report, along with responses, and  its methodology .

• Affirmative Action
• Higher Education
• Hispanics/Latinos & Education

Lauren Mora is a former research assistant focusing on race and ethnicity research at Pew Research Center

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Public school enrollment falling nationwide, data shows

More and more, parents are opting America’s children out of public school.

The share of children ages 5 to 17 enrolled in public schools fell by almost 4 percentage points from 2012 to 2022, an NBC News analysis of Census Bureau data found, even as the overall population grew.

NBC News’ analysis found:

• 87.0% of children were enrolled in public school in 2022, compared to 90.7% in 2012.
• In Kentucky, the share of school-age children in public schools decreased by almost 8 percentage points. 
• In South Carolina, the share of children enrolled in public schools decreased by 7.4 percentage points. 
• In Alaska, enrollment decreased by nearly 7 percentage points.

During the same period, the share of 5 to 17 year-olds enrolled in private schools increased by 2 percentage points, the Census Bureau data showed. Charter schools saw a similar increase , according to the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, a nonprofit group dedicated to advancing charter schools. 

Educators and researchers say the swing has been caused in part by laws that have targeted public schools while propping up alternatives. 

“[The rise in charter schools] is a thread of the larger campaign of privatization,” said Abbie Cohen, a Ph.D. candidate in UCLA’s School of Education and Information Studies. “Those two things are happening at the same time, and I don’t think it’s a coincidence.” 

Policies that make private, charter and homeschooling options more available to families — dubbed “school choice” by advocates — have expanded rapidly since 2022. Such policies grant families public funds for alternative schooling in the form of vouchers, tax-credit scholarships, refundable tax credits and more. In 2023, at least 146 school choice bills were introduced across 43 states, according to FutureEd, an education-focused think tank at Georgetown University. 

Nineteen school choice laws were enacted last year in 17 states, including South Carolina and Florida, which have seen some of the most dramatic declines of students enrolled in public schools. 

As part of the push for school choice, states are eliminating income limits and other eligibility requirements, allowing higher-income families to receive benefits. Eight states passed such laws or created such programs in 2023, FutureEd’s data shows, bringing the total number of states with these programs — commonly referred to as  “universal school choice” — to 10.

Though Kentucky has seen the most students leave public schools, it is one of 18 states without a school choice program, and the state doesn’t fund charters. Homeschooling and “microschooling,” where students are homeschooled together and may be supervised by someone other than their own parents, are increasingly popular alternatives. An EdChoice/Morning Consult poll reported that 15% of parents in Kentucky prefer homeschooling, compared to 9% of parents nationwide. 

Robert Enlow, the CEO of the nonprofit school choice advocacy group EdChoice, said he is “agnostic” to which options are chosen, but believes the money should follow each student wherever they go. 

“Families are saying, ‘Let me have the resources that are due to me, that I get through taxes that are set aside for my kid, and then let me choose,’” Enlow said.

At the same time that states are pushing school choice programs, public schools — already dealing with declining enrollment — have faced budget cuts, teacher shortages, and laws and fights over what is taught in the classroom. 

More than 20 states have considered bills since 2022 that would give parents more control over the curriculum in public schools, from granting parents access to course materials prior to classes, to banning instruction on sexual orientation and gender and allowing parents to opt their children out of any classes. 

One state that has pushed such laws is Florida. The state has passed several parent rights laws since 2020, including changes to make it easier for parents to ban books from classes, a ban against discussing sexuality and gender identity in younger grades and a ban on teaching critical race theory in classes .

Florida’s 5 to 17-year-old population has grown 9% since 2012, but NBC News’ analysis found that  its public school enrollment fell 7% during that span.

Andrew Spar, the president of the Florida Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union, said new laws have unclear directions and handcuff teachers’ ability to instruct without fear of retaliation for what’s discussed in class. 

“In Florida, there’s so much micromanaging of our public schools, so many bureaucratic rules and laws that get in the way, that it becomes increasingly difficult for us to do our jobs,” Spar said. “Teachers are vilified; they can’t do their jobs.”

Cohen, from UCLA, said parents are unenrolling students from public schools when they either feel the curriculum is not teaching accurate history, or hope for more conservative changes in school policies and curricula. Her research found that funding cuts are among the policies “fueling mistrust” in public schools and could be leading families to alternatives. 

The states with the largest declines in public school enrollment also have the lowest per-pupil spending, Census Bureau data shows . Educators and researchers question whether public schools will bounce back from recent enrollment declines as districts experience a wave of financial struggles and closures . 

“Who is hurting the most are the students who have been most historically marginalized in society,” Cohen said. “When more kids are leaving the public schools, that’s less funding for the public schools and those who are left, are left with less.”

Catherine Allen is an intern on the Data / Graphics team at NBC News.