Many New Ph.D.'s Emerge Deeper in Debt Than in the Past, Survey Shows

More than 51,000 students earned Ph.D.'s in 2012, a 4.3-percent increase over the 48,908 in the previous year, according to data released on Friday by the National Science Foundation. And as graduates continue to face a challenging academic job market, those new Ph.D.'s who graduate with debt are shouldering heavier burdens than ever before, the data show.

The proportion of doctoral recipients who use primarily their own resources to pay for their graduate education has declined for two consecutive years, falling from 17.9 percent in 2010 to 16 percent in 2012. The data are part of the annual report on doctoral-degree attainment known as the Survey of Earned Doctorates.

But this year’s survey showed that those who do use their own funds assumed more debt than did Ph.D.'s previously. In 2002 about 16 percent of doctoral recipients graduated with $30,001 or more of debt; a decade later, almost 18.5 percent did.

Mark K. Fiegener, a social-science analyst at the National Science Foundation, said he hoped that Ph.D. candidates understood the risks of taking on debt.

“Everybody thinks they’re going to be the best, be an NBA player, and they don’t realize how few people get tenure-track jobs at the best schools,” he said.

The proportion of graduates who reported a definite commitment for employment or postdoctoral study did not change much from the year before, showing that economic recovery has not fully come to the academic sector, Mr. Fiegener said. In 2012, as in 2011, just over 65 percent of recipients reported that they had either a job or plans to pursue postdoctorate study. The 2011 figure was the lowest level in 10 years.

More Diversity

Data for those who received doctorates in humanities and education fields, however, show slight recovery. The proportion of humanities and of education scholars with postgraduation plans rose from the year before. The proportion of education scholars with professional or educational commitments after graduation rose to just over 69 percent, from just over 68 percent, and the percentage of humanities scholars with postgraduation commitments rose to just over 58 percent, from 57 percent.

Among those with definite commitments, fewer doctoral recipients said in 2012 than in the year before that they planned to pursue postdoctoral study. That, Mr. Fiegener said, might be a positive sign for the academic job market, indicating that Ph.D. recipients may have found more long-term commitments.

On other fronts, Mr. Fiegener noted that this year’s data show a continued increase in diversity among doctorate recipients. A particular jump, he said, was in the number of Hispanic scholars who earned doctorates in science and engineering fields.

More than 53 percent of doctoral recipients in 2012 were white, a decrease from the 2002 figure, which was just above 60 percent. The gender composition of doctoral recipients, which shows that about 54 percent were male, much more closely resembles the figure from 2002, which was about 55 percent male.

The foundation’s annual report, “Doctorate Recipients From U.S. Universities: 2012,” is available on its website.

Rising Debt for Ph.D.'s

More recipients of doctorates have accumulated debt of more than $30,000 from their graduate education than a decade ago.