| Graduate students' satisfaction, persistence, and academic progress in graduate school is dependent on personal characteristics of graduate students and the factors they face in the graduate school environment. Factors that affected graduate (doctoral) students' academic progress in the Department of Educational Administration at Michigan State University was the focus of this investigation. The period under study was four years, beginning in the 1980-81 academic year, using doctoral students who were admitted to and subsequently enrolled in the department that year as the research population.;Rate of academic progress was not found to be associated with the students' socio-demographic variables. However, a relationship was established between ethnicity, gender, and marital status and some aspects of the program environment, particularly students' interaction with other students, and faculty. Program area and nationality were shown to be related to students' perceptions of stress and self-esteem.;A strong positive relationship was found when the students' satisfaction with the graduate education program environment variables was tested against their academic progress. Program environment variables included financial aid, student/student and faculty/student relationships, and the presence of stress, self-esteem, and support mechanisms.;The results showed that students' rate of academic progress was, in the main, influenced by the program environment, while certain socio-demographic characteristics had am impact on some features of the graduate environment.;A survey questionnaire was sent to 76 doctoral students who were admitted and then enrolled that year, to determine their academic progress, their background data (demographics), and factors that affected their rate of progress and satisfaction with the graduate program environment. Cross-tabulations, frequency, means, and percentages were used to determine if there were a relationship between graduate students' rate of academic progress and graduate program environment and such socio-demographic variables as ethnicity, nationality, gender, marital status, age, and financial status. |
