• Introduction
• Implications for Future Demand for Postsecondary Education
• Diversity and the New Majority
• Responding to the Needs of the New Majority Graduate Student
• New Programs, New Institutions
• Will Institutions Supply What Graduate Students Demand?

Using data from the Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study, Second Follow-up (B&B:93/97), the featured report tells an important story about contemporary graduate education in the United States. Rather than following the traditional path of attending graduate school directly after earning the bachelor's degree, many Americans are going to work first, then attending graduate school while their careers progress. This new attendance pattern has important implications for U.S. graduate education—a system built when the traditional pattern of full-time attendance was the norm.

According to the featured report, three-quarters of those 1992-93 bachelor's degree recipients who had enrolled in graduate school by 1997 were pursuing master's degrees, and the remainder were about evenly divided between doctoral and first-professional programs. More importantly, while over 90 percent of the doctoral and first-professional students were attending full time, the majority of master's students were attending part time. These part-time students were almost all employed, advancing their careers while pursuing advanced degrees. In addition, many baccalaureate recipients not already enrolled expect to return to school for advanced education sometime during their careers. This "new majority" of working adults involved in graduate and first-professional education requires a set of services—both academic and administrative—quite different from those required for the traditional graduate student.

Responses to B&B:93/97 indicate that one-fifth of 1992-93 bachelor's degree recipients either had already obtained an advanced degree or were participating in advanced study 4 years after college graduation. While that group represents an important segment of graduate enrollment, many of those who do not enter graduate school soon after receiving a bachelor's degree also have graduate degree expectations. In fact, 4 years after college graduation, 72 percent of the 1992-93 bachelor's degree recipients expected to earn a graduate or first-professional degree sometime during their careers. Most of these students expected to earn a master's degree and are likely to attend part time while employed full time.

Considering that approximately 1.2 million bachelor's degrees are granted in the United States each year, those expectations represent a substantial source of demand for graduate education. Of course, not all expectations will come to fruition, but even if one-half of all bachelor's degree recipients were to become involved in graduate or first-professional education, then this demand would push graduate and first-professional enrollment well above the current total of 2 million students.

The B&B expectations data also reveal that the new majority graduate students are more diverse than the traditional group. Traditional graduate students are younger, are more likely to be male, and tend to be enrolled in doctoral or first-professional programs. In contrast, the new majority students are older, are more likely to be female, and are pursuing graduate-level certificates and master's degrees in a wide range of fields. According to the 1995-96 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS:96), the average age of master's degree students is 32, and more than a third are over the age of 35.

Both majority and minority group members recognize the need for postbaccalaureate education. In fact, black and Hispanic bachelor's degree recipients were more likely than white graduates to report expectations for advanced degrees. Four years after college, women and men had similar expectations, with 73 percent of women and 71 percent of men expecting to earn a graduate or first-professional degree.

The part-time enrolled/full-time employed graduate student presents many challenges to the university community. Most student-related systems were established during the period of rapid institutional expansion of the 1960s and early 1970s, when full-time attendance was the norm. Institutions have responded to the demands of the new majority students in a variety of ways, from the modification of university procedures and student services, to the creation of new graduate programs, to the founding of entire new institutions.

Admissions criteria are changing as well. Returning adult students are judged more on their undergraduate records and work experience than on standardized test scores. Responses to B&B:93/97 reflect the importance of undergraduate GPA, with bachelor's recipients with high grade-point averages twice as likely to apply as those with low grade-point averages and three times as likely to enroll. In addition, admissions offices increasingly need to work with students who may have earned graduate credits at other institutions and want to transfer credit to the new graduate program.

Providing services to students with full-time jobs often involves extending office hours in order to accommodate working adults. According to B&B:93/97, well over one- half of all master's students attend courses on weeknights or weekends. Many institutions are making increasing use of the Internet for publishing graduate school catalogs, for online admissions forms, and for course delivery.

There are many other services demanded by new majority students. These include, for example, child care, campus and parking facilities safe for nighttime access, career counseling, and financial aid for students attending on a part-time basis. Providing academic advising and mentoring and encouraging the formation of peer study groups are challenges for programs serving part-time students.

Not surprisingly, most financial support for graduate and first-professional study goes to full-time students. According to B&B:93/97, more than 60 percent of part-time students received no institutional, state, or federal support for graduate study and consequently financed their education from personal resources. The limited support that is available comes from employer-provided educational benefits, as well as from loans and fellowships. Universities, employers, and government agencies need to work together to streamline financial aid regulations to maximize the use of the modest amounts of support that are available for the part-time student.

Because adult students have different expectations for program availability and content than their younger counterparts, institutions are developing new programs and degrees at the graduate level. One of the most exciting new programs is the graduate certificate. This certificate is designed for bachelor's degree recipients who are seeking a focused program of advanced study but who are not interested in committing the time necessary for a full master's degree program. The graduate certificate program is typically 12 to 18 credits in duration and is offered in a wide variety of fields, including information technology, gerontology, and women's studies.

Recognizing the growing demand for postbaccalaureate education, entire new institutions have been established to serve the working student. Walden University and the University of Phoenix are two examples of these new institutions. Walden was founded in 1970 to provide graduate-level education to working professionals. Using distance learning methods, students can earn master's and doctoral degrees from Walden without sacrificing family and career commitments.

The University of Phoenix, one of the best known institutions of this type, was established in 1976 as a for-profit institution with a mission to provide education to working adult students. Many University of Phoenix graduate programs require that the students be employed, especially the business and education programs. These programs have proved to be enormously popular, and today the University of Phoenix ranks first in the nation in total head count graduate enrollment, with over 13,000 graduate students.

Over the past 30 years, U.S. graduate education has been transformed from an elite system for the few into a mass system for the many, enrolling more than 2 million students and annually granting more than 500,000 master's, doctoral, and professional degrees. The traditional view of graduate students as newly minted bachelor's degree recipients engaged full time in graduate study no longer reflects the current reality. To be sure, there are many graduate students—especially in doctoral and first-professional programs—that fit the traditional model. However, the decided majority of students pursuing graduate study are quite different from the traditional student. They are older, more often women, typically married, and have family and career responsibilities. These students present significant challenges and opportunities for U.S. graduate education.

For federal and state policymakers, the issue is fairly straightforward—how can we help make advanced education available for the working adult? For American universities, the questions are more complex and impact the central mission of these institutions. Universities need to review their missions to decide what kind of population they want to serve. Should institutions try to be all things to all people or focus their efforts somewhere along the continuum between preparing doctoral scholars and providing career training for the working professional?

Many institutions are caught between the interest of the faculty in preparing the next generation of doctoral scholars and the needs of the local community for career-related training. A university may decide to focus on doctoral training, but that will cede a substantial segment of the market to other providers, such as corporate universities and institutions like the University of Phoenix.

One of the most difficult issues faced by graduate schools is the maintenance of program quality in a part-time environment. The core values of graduate education—close student-faculty interaction, access to outstanding research facilities, advanced research on a focused topic, and peer-to-peer contact—are typically associated with full-time, campus-based programs. How can these values be maintained in a part-time, off-campus setting?

While the new part-time graduate and professional students present many challenges for the university community, they also present a number of opportunities. Institutions have the opportunity to serve a new and diverse population of students, expanding outreach to underrepresented populations. They have the opportunity to experiment with new programs and new delivery systems. And they have the opportunity to develop a new group of constituents interested in supporting their higher education system.

The B&B study provides an important set of data on the transition from bachelor's degree to graduate school and career. Used in combination with other NCES data sources such as NPSAS and the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), B&B provides a rich view of the changing face of U.S. graduate education.