We will continuously collect this survey information, and will report it on occasion in Dissertation News as well as here on our ASGS World Wide Web page.
First responses are from 85 subscribers to the ASGS e-mail discussion list, Doc-Talk. The sample thus far is still small and biased, but it begins to describe costs you can expect when doing a thesis.
The sample bias is illustrated in Table A below, by the differences between the percentage of students in each discipline in our study (ASGS %) and the approximate percentage of students writing theses nationwide (Est %). We made our estimates based on a combination of data from the Council of Graduate Schools (Syverson and Maguire 1994) and the Survey of Earned Doctorates (Thurgood and Clarke 1995). The six major discipline areas we used in our survey include:
Our sample to date is also biased, in that more than 70 percent of students we surveyed had an office on-campus, far more than is true for students nationwide.
Also atypical is the finding that 71 percent of students in our sample had some tuition assistance, including 49 percent (41 of 83) who indicated they paid no tuition at all. (Note: The total number of students included in each calculation changes slightly because of incomplete data.)
This sample, then, can be considered representative of on-campus, full-time, well-funded graduate students at major universities across the United States--students who have maximum institutional resources available while doing their theses.
1. Thesis costs vary dramatically, and their averages vary widely among disciplines. In addition to tuition and fees, a thesis can cost from $0 to over $20,000-the average cost was more than $1,000. For the most expensive theses, students paid for research subjects (4 students paid an average of $2,800), for travel to research sites (5 students paid an average of $1,660), and for instruments and surveys (5 students paid an average of $1,040).
That only one-fourth of the students reported such unusually high research expenses suggests that these costs can be controlled by careful selection of topics and by prudent research designs. Many students, perhaps a majority in our sample, were working with faculty members who absorbed the costs of dissertation research. A few students (2) mentioned that their research costs were paid by grants.
Even as preliminary as this study is, the figures give some guide to thesis costs within disciplines.
3. Another major thesis expense for one out of five students was a personal computer. Although 87 percent of students had access to computers through their universities, 20 percent reported buying a computer specifically for doing their thesis. The average reported cost of a personal computer was $1,380.
4. Resources provided by the school varied widely. We listed 37 common resources used by students during the thesis process. Every resource mentioned was made available to some students by their schools (although no student had them all). These resources are shown on page 5, ranked in order of the percentage of students reporting the availability of each resource.
Because this initial survey was conducted via an Internet discussion list, nearly all responding students indicated that their universities provided them a computer and online Internet access. Estimates are that among the graduate student population in general, less than two-thirds have computers, and far fewer have Internet access. Thus, our sample of students was unusually rich in computer resources.
5. Resource availability varied widely among disciplines. For each discipline, we divided the average number of resources available by the total resources possible (37) to give us a figure which-loosely interpreted-represents the percentage of resources available on average to students in the discipline. Students were working on both empirical research (involving collection and/or analysis of data) and non-empirical research (primarily in the Humanities). For Humanities students doing non-empirical studies, percentage of access to resources was computed based on 31 resources, omitting those specific to empirical research. When interpreting the results comparing disciplines, it should be remembered that some disciplines (viz., Physical Sciences, Education) were markedly under-represented, and their results need to be validated as the sample for the survey increases.
The mean number of advising hours for all 40 responding students was 6, ranging from 1 to 40. Students who reported 15 or more contact hours per month were evidently working as research assistants with their professors, and their contact was probably not exclusively focused on their thesis studies. No average was calculated for the Professional Fields, given that only two students in Professional Fields responded (1 indicated 1 hr; the other indicated 20 hrs). More data are needed to make this analysis meaningful.
2. What is regular yearly doctoral tuition? Mean $6,400 Range per year $550-$20,000
3. How much total tuition have you paid? (Those paying tuition: n = 42) Mean $24,100 Range $200-$61,000 (Those paying NO tuition [$0]: n = 41) (These students were omitted from the calculation of the mean shown above.)
4. Please categorize your school (n = 85) Large publ/priv univ (25,000+) 67% Small publ/priv univ (less than 25,000) 29% Institution 2% College 1%
5. What is your discipline? (n = 85) Education 7% Humanities 22% Life Sciences 14% Physical Sciences 12% Prof. Fields (Business, Commun, Law, Religion, etc.) 8% Social Science/Psychology 36%
6. Is your research empirical? (n = 84) Empirical (involving data collect'n and analysis) 87% Non-empirical: 13% n = 9 in Humanities n = 2 in Soc Sci/Psychology
7. At what stage are you in your thesis project? (n = 85) Reading literature to identify/refine topic; designing research meth- odology/writing proposal 30% Finished proposal, conducting empirical research/gathering data, analyzing data/building theory/analyzing discourse 46% Writing final chapters; finished manuscript; done 25%
8. How many faculty thesis advising hours per month do you average? 6 hrs
9. What institutional resources have been available to you free or for nominal cost while you worked on your thesis? Nearby campus library 93% E-mail 93% Internet access 92% Online library access 89% Computer/printer 87% Computer word processing pgm 80% Computer statistical analysis pgm 72% Office space/desk 71% Paper (for pntg, copying, writing) 53% Computer lab help 49% Literature search svc through library (person using Dialog/ Knowledge Index, ERIC etc.) 49% Computer database program 47% Research databases (emp only) 42% Photocopying 42% Statistical analysis help (emp only) 40% Research equipt (AV equipt, test apparatus, etc.) (emp only) 39% Printing 36% Support group/buddy 34% Other useful computer program(s) 33% Human or animal subjects for research (emp only) 31% Format editing by thesis reader (person checking final manuscript after submission to the dean) 29% Research design help from person other than advisor/committee 27% Thesis writing seminar/workshop 24% Topic selection help from person other than advisor/committee 24% Postage 22% Instrument/survey databank (emp) 22% Research assistants to help with data collection (emp) 20% Psychological counselor re: thesis problems 19% Copy editing help from thesis reader 17% Media present'n (e.g., oral exam) help other than advisor/committee 17% Binding 11% Typing/word processing/ transcribing help 10% Format editing help from person other than thesis reader, advisor, or committee 10% Time management/motivation coach (other than advisor/committee) 10% Copy editing help from person other than thesis reader, advisor or committee 07% Library "gofer" (gets articles/ books from library) 06%
10. How much have you paid for the following resources/ services used specifically for your thesis? N Avg$ Photocopying 40 470 Paper 25 195 Computer/printer (If pur- chased for thesis work) 17 1,380 Postage 15 320 Travel 12 1,660 Printing 10 90 Word processing program 10 220 Binding 9 80 Statistical analysis program 8 130 Other useful computer pgm 8 100 Computer database program 7 185 Instruments/surveys 5 1,040 Typing/word processing/ transcription service 5 405 Payment to human subjects for participating in rsch 4 2,800 Rented/purchased rsrch equipt (AV, test apparatus) 4 500 Internet access 3 170 Paid literature search through library 2 150 Research database access 1 100 Support group costs (specify: refreshments) 1 100 Format editing help 8 0 Copy editing help 6 0 Research design help 20 0 Topic selection help 22 0 Test administrators/research assistants 27 0 Scoring services/optiscan services 0 0 Statistical analysis help 0 0 Computer lab help 0 0 Library gofer 0 0 Time management/ motivation coach 0 0 Psychological counselor re: thesis problems 0 0 Media presentation helper 0 0 Thesis writing seminar/ workshop 0 0
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