Time-to-Degree Analysis: Instructions and Resources
As part of the Graduate School’s commitment to implementing recommendations from the Future of the Ph.D. Taskforce report and Year 2 Action Plan, all Ph.D. programs are required to complete a program-level analysis of time-to-degree (TTD) during the 2026–27 academic year.
Required action and deadline:
All Ph.D. programs are required to submit information on Ph.D. student TTD to deans and/or vice-chancellors based on the template included in this document.
Completed templates are due December 4, 2026.
Download the TTD analysis template
Why we’re examining time-to-degree
Examining TTD is not simply a measure of speed. It is a way to ensure programs have greater insight into their students’ experiences with program requirements, common points of delay and opportunities to support steady progress toward degree completion.
This TTD analysis project is the first step in gaining deeper insight. The Graduate School is currently working with other central units to provide accurate funding data, but the existing TTD data is enough to begin a useful analysis of student experiences. Years 3-5 of the Future of the PhD Action Plan will require PhD programs to engage with questions about their curriculum, co-curricular requirements, milestones and funding approaches.
Accessing your PhD program’s TTD data:
- To access the “Graduate Time to Degree and Completion Rates” dashboard, click here or login to the BI portal and search for that title.
- Use the fields on the left to narrow your focus to “research doctorate.”
- Use the other fields to view your program’s data on other measures (e.g. student characteristics).
How to access national SED data
- Though not required in your time-to-degree analysis, programs may be interested in viewing how they compare to peers. Follow the steps below to view relevant data from the Survey of Earned Doctorates and a high-level comparison of UW time-to-degree data with the same data set.
- Visit the Survey of Earned Doctorates.
- Select Data from the menu.
- Open Trends in research doctorate recipient characteristics, Table 1-12, to view median years to research doctorate by broad field of study.
- Additional tables cover demographic trends, doctoral degree production, educational pathways, financial support, and postgraduation employment plans.
How to compare UW and SED time-to-degree data
- Open the UW Time to Degree dashboard.
- On the Qtrs to Completed Degree tab, select Research Doctorate.
- Select the academic years of interest. SED summary metrics are available for 2014–15, 2019–20, and 2024–25.
- Use the filters to select your academic unit.
- Find the median Elapsed Quarters to Degree in the results table and divide by four to convert quarters to years.
Important: Time-to-degree calculations can vary across data sources. Following these steps provides a more consistent basis for comparing UW and SED data, although differences in definitions and populations may remain.
UW PhD time-to-degree organized by same CIP code as Survey of Earned Doctorates time-to-degree
| Median Elapsed Years to Degree | |||
| Year of Degree | 2014- 2015 | 2019- 2020 | 2024- 2025 |
| All fields | 5.5 | 5.5 | 5.5 |
| Science and engineering | 5.5 | 5.5 | 5.5 |
| Agricultural science and natural resources | 5.0 | 5.8 | 5.3 |
| Biological and biomedical sciences | 5.3 | 5.3 | 5.5 |
| Computer and information sciences | 5.8 | 6.0 | 5.8 |
| Engineering | 5.0 | 5.3 | 5.3 |
| Geosciences, atmospheric, and ocean sciences | 6.0 | 5.8 | 6.3 |
| Health sciences | 5.3 | 4.9 | 5.0 |
| Mathematics and statistics | 5.4 | 5.0 | 5.5 |
| Multidisciplinary/ interdisciplinary sciences | 5.8 | 6.0 | 5.5 |
| Physical sciences | 5.3 | 5.3 | 5.5 |
| Psychology | 6.0 | 7.0 | 5.8 |
| Social sciences | 5.8 | 6.0 | 6.3 |
| Non-science and engineering | 5.3 | 5.6 | 5.8 |
| Business | 4.8 | 5.1 | 5.5 |
| Education | 4.9 | 5.8 | 5.8 |
| Humanities | 6.8 | 6.4 | 6.0 |
| Visual and performing arts | 5.6 | 3.8 | 4.8 |
| Other non-science and engineering | 5.0 | 5.5 | 5.9 |
Sources:
Graduate Time to Degree and Completion Rates, University of Washington BI Portal
Survey of Earned Doctorates, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES). 2026. Doctorate Recipients from U.S. Universities: 2025 Data Tables. NSF 26-326. Alexandria, VA: U.S. National Science Foundation.