Graduate Science Education: Student Support and Postdoctorals, Fall 1973. Surveys of Science Resources Series. No. NSF-74-318

A survey launched in 1972 to continue to provide a national data base on financial aid to graduate students in sciences and engineering yielded statistics based on a 100 percent response rate from 6,559 master's and doctorate departments in 339 institutions awarding science and engineering doctorate degrees, including 104 separate medical schools. Characteristics of graduate enrollment examined were enrollment status (full- and part-time), distribution among fields of science, level of study, citizenship, control of institution (public or private), sex of students, type and sources of major support. Postdoctoral utilization by field of science was examined in terms of type and source of support. Trend data for the period 1967-73 were derived by linking the 1972-73 data to statistics provided for 1967-71 on National Science Foundation traineeship applications. Findings include these: In 1973 doctorate-granting institutions enrolled 218,000 full- and part-time students, with full-time enrollment (164,300) down 3 percent from 1972 and part-time enrollment up 4 percent. Decline in full-time enrollment since 1967 was 5 percent, with students dependent on federal support down 40 percent. Graduate departments utilized 16,400 postdoctoral appointees in 1973 (a rise of 31 percent from 1967 to 1972), 69 percent of whom received federal support. Detailed statistical tables are included. (JT)