TABLE 3.—Distribution of Institutions Granting Earned Doctorates, 1955–56, by States-Continued

1 Separately organized professional school of law, religion, speech, or theology.

'Includes also degrees listed separately for "Cornell University, State University of New York," and "State University of New York College of Forestry."

Source: HEW, Office of Education, Earned Degree Study.

22201-58-25

FIGURE III

154

11

United States, Aggregate

77

278

230

WISCONSIN

79

284

CHAMP

TABLE 4.-Summary of institutional fellowships, loans, and assistantships for graduate students in institutions of higher education by States, 1955-56 (listed by States in which the institutions are located)

1 Includes loans to 23,819 students in the amount of $3,315,092, reported to the Office of Education as "undergraduate and graduate."

2 Includes 4,837 assistantships valued at $4,867,845, which were reported as "undergraduate and graduate" by 6 universities.

WHERE DO DOCTOR'S DEGREE GRADUATES GO?

The number of doctor's degrees conferred in a given year is not a true measure of the number of such persons to become newly available for employment. The gross number must be reduced by one-third because 1 in 3 of all doctor's degree recipients has already fully committed himself to an occupation prior to the year of his graduation, and does not change his occupation as a consequence of attaining doctoral status. If, as was the case in 1955, the total number pro

duced by the graduate schools is approximately 9,000, the employer of college teachers should anticipate the reservoir of new potential supply to be not more than 6,000.

But the employing officers' handicap does not end there. Of this remaining 6,000, about 1 in 3 will enter a noneducational occupation, and the remaining new supply will thus be reduced to 4,000. And even within this group the employer of college teachers must be prepared to see 1 of every 9 enter the service of a school system or an educational agency or association. Finally, then, the original class of 9,000 doctor's degree graduates may be expected to profit the colleges and universities by not more than about 3,500 persons in the combined fields of teaching, administration, and research.

FEDERAL SUPPORT OF GRADUATE STUDENTS

In 1954, the latest year for which we have figures, the Federal Government supported somewhat in excess of 1 out of every 5 graduate students. This means that nearly 43,000 graduate students received Federal support, at a cost of over $50 million. The sources of this support were:

Veterans' educational benefits.-27,000 graduate students, more than threefifths of the total number receiving Federal support, received payments totaling $24,725,000. There was no sharp restriction of field in this program.

Research assistantships.-More than 5,900 graduate students were employed as research assistants on Federal contracts and grants, receiving a total of $10,812,000. The unevenness of this support by field is indicated by the fact that 97 plus percent were in the natural sciences, and less than 2 percent in the social sciences and nonscience fields. The largest part of this support was provided by research contracts of the military departments. Other agencies providing substantial support were the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, the Atomic Energy Commission, the Department of Agriculture, and the National Science Foundation.

Fellowships.-1,560 graduate students in all fields of study received $4,766,000 in fellowship aid. The National Science Foundation financed 498 graduate fellows and 24 postdoctoral fellows at a cost of $1,320,000.

The Department of Health, Education, and Welfare financed 46 graduate fellows and 444 postdoctorial fellows at a cost of $2,132,000.

The Atomic Energy Commission financed 90 predoctoral fellows and 8 postdoctoral fellows at a cost of $335,000.

The Fulbright program financed nearly 1,100 graduate and postdoctoral fellows at a total cost of $4,299,000 in Fulbright payments.

Traineeships.-The traineeship program of the Veterans' Administration and the National Institutes of Health financed the study of 1,600 graduate students in psychology and related paramedical fields, at a cost of $3,672,000.

Proportion of graduate students receiving Federal support: Natural sciences 28 percent, social sciences 8 percent, and nonsciences 16 percent.

Conclusion

Important in connection with title IV of the bill presently before Congress is the fact that the most substantial support for graduate education to date has come from a source that is drying up, namely, veterans' educational benefits. A critical problem posed by the current pattern of support is that with the decline in support of graduate students through veterans' educational benefits, the support by the Federal Government tends to be for vocational, scientific, and technological endeavor, and not for the general types of support provided by veterans' educational program. Many lay and professional people view with alarm programs that direct study and students into certain fields to the exclusion or neglect of others.

George Boas reminds us that while the historian, the linguist, and the philosopher are not essential to defense they are "merely essential to civilization."

F. G. Friedmann, speaking for a great many, says "As to the problem of survival of our Western World, recent history seems to teach that our failures were due to lack of understanding of the human factor rather than to our shortcomings in the technological field *** An increased emphasis on relevant training and research in the humanities and the social sciences seems therefore to be called for."