Doctoral Student Parents During the COVID-19 Pandemic: How Did They Fare?

Abstract

The challenges faced by parenting during doctoral education are widely acknowledged. When the COVID-19 pandemic struck universities in the United States in March 2020, doctoral student parents, like other working parents, faced the new challenge of managing workloads without access to childcare, schools, or other supports for balancing work and family opportunities. And yet, many parents persevered through these seemingly impossible circumstances. This paper describes a survey of doctoral students (N = 483) about the ways in which the first 18 months of the pandemic impacted their academic work and professional development opportunities, identifying the institutional supports available to them during this time. Differences between parents of dependent minor children and non-parents were explored, with no differences found except in dissertation delays, where non-parenting students were more likely to experience delays. Further, many students did not have access to supports and fewer used them, although parents were more likely to access supports than non-parents. Implications for understanding the impact on doctoral education are identified and discussed, including the need to reconsider parenting as a barrier to academic success in doctoral education.