First-generation college students who go on to earn a doctorate:
What are the educational expenses and employment outcomes?
Doctorate recipients who were first-generation college students differ from other doctorate recipients with respect to the duration and expense of their doctoral training and, to a lesser degree, their initial postgraduate employment outcomes.
Median time to degree, by college generation and field of study: 2010–14
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Time to degree
From 2010 to 2014, first-generation college students who went on to earn a doctorate took longer than other doctorate recipients to complete their degree. This result held for every broad field of study. For both generation groups, those earning doctorates in education had the longest median time to degree, while doctorate recipients in life sciences, physical sciences, and engineering took the least time to complete their degree.
Doctorate recipients with cumulative education-related debt, by college
generation: 1994–2014
Percent
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Education-related debt: Graduates with debt
From 1994 to 2014, roughly one-half of all doctorate recipients graduated with outstanding debt incurred during their undergraduate and graduate education. The shares of doctorate recipients with cumulative education-related debt were similar for first-generation college students who went on to earn a doctorate and other doctorate recipients up to 1998 but gradually diverged after that time. In 2014 first-generation college students who went on to earn a doctorate were more likely than other doctorate holders to have outstanding debt at the time of graduation (53% versus 46%).
Graduate education-related debt greater than $30,000, by college generation,
degree field category, and type of doctoral institution: 2014
Percent
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Education-related debt: Level of graduate debt
In 2014, doctorate holders who were first-generation college students were more likely than second- or later-generation doctorate recipients to hold a high level of debt specifically related to their graduate education. Overall, 24% of doctorate holders who were first-generation college students but only 17% of other doctorate holders reported graduate education-related debt in excess of $30,000 at the time of doctorate award. The greater tendency of doctorate holders who were first-generation college students to graduate with high debt loads was evident among graduates of each type of doctoral institution and among graduates with doctorates in S&E fields as well as non-S&E fields. Both generation groups of doctorate recipients from doctoral research universities were more likely to incur high levels of debt during graduate school than were graduates from very high research and high research universities.
Definite commitments for employment in the United States, by college
generation and economic sector: 1994, 2004, 2014
Percent
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SOURCE: Doctorate Recipients from U.S. Universities 2014. Related detailed data: tables 46, 47.
First postgraduate position: Employment sector
For selected years 1994, 2004, and 2014, academe was the most common sector of employment for doctorate recipients reporting definite commitments for non-postdoc employment in the United States, with approximately half of doctoral graduates from both generation groups committing to academic positions after graduation. Across the two decades, doctorate holders who were first-generation college students were more likely than other doctorate recipients to take positions in the education sector (includes primary and secondary schools and school systems),whereas the industry sector was more popular among doctorate holders who were second- or later-generation college students. However, these differences had become quite modest by 2014. The share of graduates from each generation group taking positions in industry increased substantially from 2004 to 2014.
Postdoc rate among S&E doctorate recipients in the United States, by college
generation and type of doctoral institution: 2010–14
Percent
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First postgraduate position: Postdocs
Among doctorate recipients reporting definite commitments for postdoc or employed positions in the United States from 2010 to 2014, doctorate holders who were first-generation college students were less likely than other doctorate holders to take postdoc positions (49% versus 53%). Both groups of doctorate recipients graduating from very high research and high research universities had similar postdoc rates. Doctorate recipients from medical schools and centers were far more likely than graduates of other types of institutions to take a U.S. postdoc position, whereas doctorate recipients from doctoral research universities were least likely to do so.
Median salary of doctorate recipients with definite commitments in the
United States, by position type and college generation: 2014
Dollars
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First postgraduate position: Median salaries
In 2014, median salaries for doctorate recipients with definite commitments in the United States were nearly identical for first-generation college students who went on to earn a doctorate and for other doctorate recipients across different types of positions. The median salaries of the two groups of doctorate recipients were the same for employed positions in academe and industry.
