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Graduate Student Services: Issues and Resources
Alicia Kubes
New York University
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Graduate Student Services: Issues and Resources
The majority of student services at universities are geared towards undergraduate
students. It is often assumed that since graduate students are usually older than undergraduate
students, they are not in need of as much help. It is also assumed that the graduate student’s
success depends on academic ability, yet studies show that emotional and social factors are often
more important than academic ability in determining who will graduate. Attrition rates for
graduate students are surprisingly high. Some studies have shown, for example that as many as
50% of students who begin doctoral programs do not finish them (Gansemer-Topf, Ewing Ross,
& Johnson, 2006). For this reason, it is important to take a look closer at graduate student
populations and identify how their needs differ from those of undergraduate students and what
services can be provided to support them.
In this paper, I will look at one socialization theory that can help professionals
understand the graduate student experience. I will highlight two student populations: minorities
and parents, to illustrate how a particular profile of a graduate student can have an impact on that
student’s success in graduate school. Finally, I will look at some of the broad services available
to graduate students such as dedicated graduate service centers and career services and how they
are adapting or should adapt to the particular needs of graduate students.
Student Socialization Theory
Gansemer-Topf, Ewing Ross, and Johnson (2006) have efficiently summarized some of
the prevailing models of socialization and student development that are used to understand
graduate students. They define graduate and professional education as a “process of socialization
into the culture, values, and mores of a chosen profession” (p. 21) and refer to the socialization
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model development by Weidman, Twale, and Stein (2001). This model breaks up the student
experience into stages and includes elements of experience and context. The first stage starts
when the student anticipates going to school and further stages continue from the student’s
admittance into a program to the point when the student has established a professional identity.
Faculty and peer relationships play important roles in different degrees throughout the stages.
Awareness of these stages is helpful to student affairs practitioners in helping them develop
programs such as orientations where important information is presented, or social events where
students can interact informally with their peers.
Graduate Student Populations
Graduate Students of Color
Cheatham (1995) has identified several ways in which institutions can change the campus
environment to better serve graduate students of color, which he defines as people of NativeAmerican, African-American, Hispanic/Latino, or Asian-American descent. Minority students
are underrepresented in all levels of higher education, particularly in doctoral programs. Studies
report that some of the major challenges minority students face include feelings of being
marginalized or alienated by academic cultures that are dominated by white values and attitudes.
They experience feelings of cultural isolation, which can be exacerbated by frustration over
defining academic goals or dealing with school bureaucracies (Hahs, 1998). Attrition of minority
students is often blamed on the department for not properly integrating them (Cheatham, 1995).
There are a number of ways in which universities can create an environment of inclusion,
mainly by creating more opportunities for interaction between minority students and other
students and faculty, encouraging multiculturalism in the classroom, creating more
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research/teaching assistantships for minority students, and supporting teaching positions for
minority faculty. Student affairs offices can be helpful in this process by providing counseling
services, support groups for minority students (and their families), career development services
adapted to the needs of minority students, and working with academic departments to ease a
student’s transition through a graduate program. Student affairs professionals can also provide a
great service by performing research on the unique experiences and needs of minority students
and sharing these findings with faculty and the entire campus community.
Mentoring relationships with both graduate students and faculty increases the chances
that students will succeed in their graduate careers. Phillips, Smith, and Davidson (as cited in
Cheatham, 1995) have shown that mentoring is a particularly important aid to the development
of minority students.
Finally, Cheatham (1995) suggests that institutions should also work with the
surrounding community to identify opportunities for students to interact with others outside of
the campus environment. Involvement with social organizations, churches, and other resources
helps minority students adapt to their larger environment. It also helps the student be less reliant
on the social and academic support of their university.
Graduate Student Parents
There is very little research on the special circumstances and needs of graduate students
who are parents. Yet, it has been shown that parents (both men and women) are less likely than
students without children to complete their graduate degrees. One study referenced by Springer
Parker, and Leviten-Reid (2009), states that 42% of women in Master’s degree programs and
24% of women in doctoral programs have dependent children. It has also been found that parents
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are less likely to be enrolled in the most prestigious programs and departments, which may have
to do with the rigorous demands of these programs, as well as the lack of female faculty role
models (Kennely & Spalter-Rothe 2006).
The majority of literature that exists on parents in academia focuses on faculty parents.
There are some similarities between the experiences of faculty and graduate student parents, such
as issues of work-life balance and taking family-related leaves, but there are also key differences.
For example, graduate student parents have additional stress that stems from financial and career
insecurities (Springer et al, 2009).
A survey of parent graduate students in sociology departments conducted by
Springer, Parker, and Leviten-Reid (2009) demonstrates that there is a lack of official policies or
support systems specifically tailored to the needs of students with children. Furthermore, faculty
have little awareness of the few resources on campus that may be available to these students and
departments accommodate parent graduate students on an individual basis.
Springer, Parker, and Leviten-Reid (2009) theorize that the general institutional lack of
support for parent graduate students may be evidence of a “structural lag” (p. 445), meaning that
institutional policies and programs have yet to catch up with the increased number of female
doctoral students.
They suggest several steps that can be taken to improve the experience of graduate
student parents and help them towards degree attainment. Universities should ease the transition
from birth/adoption by providing paid parental leave. Even unpaid leave is helpful as long as the
parent can maintain his/her enrolled status and access to school resources such as housing, health
insurance, and library privileges. When it comes to health insurance, it is important that
GRADUATE STUDENT SERVICES
healthcare for dependants is available and affordable for graduate students. In addition,
automatic extensions of deadlines in the case of birth/adoption would be helpful.
Finally, Springer, Parker, and Leviten-Reid (2009) stress the importance of creating a
family-friendly culture at universities. This can be accomplished by creating parent resource
centers, establishing support groups and web resources like listservs, and providing lactation
rooms and changing tables in restrooms. Individual departments can also foster family-friendly
environments by including childcare costs in funding conference participation, creating
dissertation support groups for parents, being flexible about departmental deadlines, and
including children and partners in the department’s social activities.
Student affairs professionals can create toolkits for graduate department chairs and
faculty that include information about university policies and resources and advice on how
departments can support parent graduate students. Such a toolkit has been developed by the
University of California’s Faculty Family Friendly Edge program (Springer et al, 2009).
Campus-Wide Services for Graduate Students
Increasingly, student affairs practitioners and higher education scholars are calling for
more specialized services geared towards graduate students. Polson (2003) provides an effective
summary of how student affairs can collaborate with departments to provide support for
graduates students. This includes building graduate needs into orientations, academic advising
and mentoring, and career services.
Specialized Graduate Student Services
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Hahs (1998) recommends a model for graduate student services that is based on the
assumption that a “good” graduate student, which she defines as someone who has a mastery of
his/her field and can communicate effectively with those within and outside that field, is formed
by a positive student environment and support structure.
Hahs (1998) points to studies that show a direct relationship between early experiences at
college and subsequent degree attainment. The importance of student orientations should not be
underestimated. It should not be assumed that since graduate students have already completed a
certain number of years in undergraduate education, that they do not need as much guidance
when they enter graduate school. Hahs explains that students often pursue graduate studies in
institutions that can be very different from the institutions where they got their undergraduate
degrees, and so it is important to give them the same amount of information and guidance as for
other students, although tailored to their specific needs. For example, the University of Alabama
has offered workshops such as “Negotiating Graduate School,” “Managing Your Time in
Graduate School”, “Surviving Graduate School with a Family”, and “Managing Stress” (Hahs,
1998).
Because lack of financial support is often a factor in graduate students deciding not to
complete their programs, it is important to provide students with sufficient information about
financial aid and encourage them to be fully aware about the financial implications of attending
graduate school (Hahs ,1998).
Both faculty advising and mentoring and peer-to-peer mentoring is important. A faculty
mentor can advise students on navigating the department, building professional skills, and
finding opportunities for publishing research. In a peer mentorship, the dynamic is different and
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students are more free to share information they would not necessarily share with a faculty
member (Hahs, 1998).
Career Services
Lehker and Furlong (2006) explain that in general, graduate education is not properly
preparing students for a changing job market. For example, a large number of doctoral students
are pursuing non-academic careers, a reality which may not be fully acknowledged or addressed
in graduate programs. There may be a large discrepancy between student expectations, especially
regarding academic careers, and the availability of academic jobs.
Lehker and Furlong (2006) encourage universities to look closely at where in the
university structure career preparation takes place and how different units can collaborate on
making sure that the school as a whole is meeting the student’s needs. Their advice is built on
two premises: that graduate students are attracted to resources that are targeted towards them and
that there is no one defining model for career services. Institutions and departments have to
consider various factors when deciding on the best approach.
Centralized career services have the benefit of being run by staff who have experience in
student and career development. Furthermore, they can take advantage of existing services for
undergraduate students such as career fairs, counseling, and on-campus recruitment. Graduate
students may feel more comfortable in exploring different career options through a centralized
office because of perceived pressures or expectations from their advisors and departments about
what path they should pursue (Lehker & Furlong, 2006). The downside of a centralized office is
that it will not have the expertise or networks to fully support all of the specialized disciplines at
a university.
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Academic departments that provide career advice already have expertise in a particular
discipline and can take advantage of established relationships between students and faculty.
Providing career services at the departmental level also sends the message to students that they
should be thinking about their post-graduate options and may encourage them to seek out
additional resources at the university level. What the department may lack is the expertise about
how the career development process works as well as the extensive resources of a dedicated
career services center.
As a case study, Kim (2005) looked at a newly established Career Services Office for
Graduates (CSOG) at a large Midwestern University. He interviewed the two staff members that
managed the CSOG, as well as two graduate students and a faculty member. The focus of the
office was on helping students from the humanities, social sciences, and the arts to develop ideas
for non-academic career options. The CSOG provided programs such as workshops, individual
career counseling, newsletters about career topics, and access to job databases.
Echoing Lehker and Furlong’s (2006) article, some of the student feedback mentioned in
this study included fear of getting a negative reaction from faculty/advisors about pursuing nonacademic career paths, and feeling that they do not have a place to go for career advice about
options outside of the traditional careers for scholars of the humanities, arts, and social sciences.
Ultimately, all the participants in Kim’s study agreed that faculty are the most
knowledgeable about career options and opportunities for students in their discipline and are
better positioned for specialized career counseling. The career services office cannot replace the
specialized resources of the department, but it can supplement them by offering general
workshops about the job search process that can include sessions about transferable skills or
other topics that students can use to explore both academic and non-academic options.
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Conclusion
There are a few common themes that the articles in this literature review have addressed.
The first is the need to realize that graduate students do have a need for the same amount of
support services as undergraduate students. It is a mistake to assume that because they are older
than undergraduate students and have already completed a certain number of years in higher
education that they do not need many of the same resources. For example, Polson (2003) refers
to a study that found that graduate students aged 27 or older had distinct needs for information
about using libraries, writing and research skills, stress management, financial and career
counseling.
The second theme is that graduate students respond positively to workshops and
resources that specifically address graduate students and relevant subpopulations. For example,
orientations can be expanded to include information on child and elder care, community service
opportunities, marriage and family counseling, and disability services (Polson 2003).
Third, there is no one-size-fits all model for providing graduate student services. The
most successful models are where central offices collaborate with academic departments to
assess the specific needs of their populations and to offer information and guidance through a
number of channels such as websites, published literature, workshops, support groups, and oneon-one advisement.
Finally, graduate students are more likely to complete their degrees if they have a support
system that includes faculty advisors and mentors as well as other students who they can relate
to. An inclusive environment that both acknowledges the special needs of the student and makes
them feel welcome is also critical.
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References
Hahs, D. L. (November 1998). Creating “Good” Graduate Students: A Model for Success. Paper
presented at the Annual Meeting of the Mid-South Educational Research Association.
New Orleans, LA.
Cheatham, H.E., Phelps, C.E. (1995). Promoting the Development of Graduate Students of
Color. Directions for Student Services, 72, 91-99.
Gansemer-Topf, A. , Ewing Ross, L., & Johnson, R.M. (2006). Graduate and Professional
Student Development and Student Affairs. New Directions for Student Services, 115, 1930.
Kennelly, I. & Spalter-Roth (2006). Parents on the Job Market: Resources and Strategies that
Help. The American Sociologist, 37, 29-49., R. (2006).
Kim, E. A. (2005). Career Services for Graduate Students: A Case Study. Online Submission.
Retrieved from http://eric.ed.gov/PDFS/ED492255.pdf
Lehker, T., Furlong, J.S. (2006). Career Services for Graduate and Professional Students. New
Directions for Student Services, 115, 73-82.
Polson, C. (2003). Adult Graduate Students Challenge Institutions to Change. New Directions for
Student services, 102, 59-68.
Springer, K.W., Parker, B.K. , Leviten-Reid, C. (2009). Making Space for Graduate Student
Parents. Journal of Family Issues, 30, 435-457.
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Weidman, J.C., Twale, D.J., and Stein, E.L. (2001). Socialization of Graduate and Professional
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