The education of doctoral students in fields like education has changed dramatically in the last several decades. Already, large numbers of doctoral students do not complete their degrees as full time, on campus students. The opportunity costs associated with full time study simply do not justify a diminishing internal rate of return to full time study, particularly as greater numbers of institutions have begun to adjust their doctoral programs to accommodate part time, off campus students. Doctoral degrees have become more accessible. Thus there are incentives for doctoral students to truncate their actual time on campus. Academic departments in turn seek to accommodate the needs of these students by relaxing residency requirements, providing for more on-line courses, and changing the nature of the interaction between and among students and faculty. This round table session will identify with participants the following issues that surface as doctoral program faculty face increasing numbers of students who wish to complete their degrees as part time, off campus students. Issues surround:1) Enrollment, attrition, and completion trends;2) Distance/distributed coursework;3) Socialization into the academic culture;4) Doctoral student demographics;5) Faculty Expectations of Doctoral Students;6) Faculty Load. A discussion paper will be presented to round table participants outlining the dimensions of each of these issues and requesting that participants share issues relative to doctoral education in their home institutions. In any given year, a large and growing population of doctoral students earn their degrees from American universities. This trend is particularly evident in areas of education generally, in curriculum and instruction, and even in educational administration and educational leadership. Education fields in general are increasingly populated by educators seeking to advance their career aspirations with a doctoral degree and by individuals who do not plan to use their degree as a springboard to careers in the academy. Table One: Number of Dissertations by DecadeUsing Subject Identifiers 1960-1971 1971-1980 1981- 1990 1991-2000 Number Educational Admin 636 1,880 5,572 6,168Curriculum & Instruction 138 5,723 7,620 12,526Education 32,228 73,079 75,228 86,333 Data Source: Dissertation Abstracts Table Two: Trends in Educational Administration and Educational Leadership from the Doctorate Data Project Number 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 Educational Admin 1,686 1,633 1,428 1,340 1,086 904 Educational Leadership 1 0 485 694 889 1,036 Total 1,687 1,633 1,933 2,034 1,975 2,901Data Source: Doctorate Data Project, National Opinion Research Center, University of ChicagoThese data understate the growth in educational doctoral degrees. But these data do indicate trends that will continue. The landscape of doctoral degree programs in education has become populated with more doctoral granting institutions and more doctoral students. This landscape looks differently today than it did twenty five years ago. For example, it used to be more common for doctoral students in education to be full-time students who were socialized into the academy and who usually prepared themselves for a career as a faculty member in higher education. Today, education doctoral students are more part- time, more involved in professional careers in K- 12 education or government agencies, and less socialized into the community of scholars. The professors who teach them are more likely to come from a professional career in practice, not from a disciplinary background in the academy. Things have and are changing.This roundtable discussion will explore the issues associated with these changes in doctoral education.