AERA Doctoral Student Cohort Program

Doctoral students are a vital part of AERA, representing 30% of AERA membership. Institutions that participate in the AERA Doctoral Student Cohort Program collaborate with AERA to allow PhD or EdD students to join AERA at reduced dues.  This is designed as a one-year introductory program to AERA membership.

All doctoral students - full time or part time - pay dues of $29 (compared to $65 rate for full student rate).

Benefits for AERA Doctoral Student Cohort Program members:

• Select free membership in an AERA Division and additional Division memberships for just $5 each.
• Join Special Interest Groups (SIGs) by paying their annual dues; the $7 SIG administrative fee for joining one or more SIGs is waived.
• All members receive complimentary digital access to all six  AERA journals, in addition to the publicly available, AERA Open.
• Purchase mailed AERA journals at the Graduate Student member rate of $10 per journal.
• Attend the 2023 AERA Annual Meeting in Chicago (April 13-16) OR the virtual meeting (May 4-5) at the discounted student member registration fee.  The Annual Meeting is the world’s largest gathering of education researchers and a showcase for groundbreaking, innovative studies in an array of areas. 
• Receive timely notice of announcements of AERA’s numerous calls for fellowships, awards, abstracts, grants, nominations, and much more.
• Take advantage of valuable networking opportunities through Divisions, SIGs, and the AERA Graduate Student Council (GSC).
• Receive the AERA GSC’s newsletter, Connections, published three times a year and be a member of the GSC's listserv.

What students qualify for this program?
This is an institutional program.  We find that the most common participant is a university or college with a school of education but other schools and departments do participate. Once an institution signs up, it offers this program to doctoral students, who have not been prior AERA members.

In order to ensure a vibrant doctoral student program, AERA asks that the school/department actively promote the program and recruit the entire first year doctoral student cohort to join, thus the name “cohort.”  The program has been expanded to allow full time students working full time and all part time students.  All students must be new AERA members and have not been in the doctoral program beyond 8 years to participate. 

How does the AERA Doctoral Student Cohort Program work?
The program is a partnership between AERA and graduate schools of education or other university schools/departments with an interest in providing their doctoral students an introductory discounted year of AERA membership.  Once the school/department fills out a short online form indicating its interest in the AERA Doctoral Student Cohort Program, the university/college/department designated Program Coordinator receives an announcement to distribute to qualified students providing directions on how to sign up.  

Schools/departments are given notice to join in September.  Once the school/department completes the short survey form, an announcement is sent to the designated Program Coordinator to distribute to students.  The deadline for signing up is March 2023. 

Membership is for 2023 but the sooner a student signs up in 2022, the sooner the student can receive announcements from AERA, Divisions, and any SIGs that they join.

Cost for Students
Any doctoral student pays $29 down from Graduate Student dues of $65. 

Cost for Institutions
The schools/departments are billed $18 per participating student in May 2023.

What is required of the institution?
AERA asks that a program coordinator be appointed who will be responsible for notifying students repeatedly of the program and encourage faculty to explain to students how AERA membership can enhance their scholarship, help them build a network, and hear of more opportunities.

To make this as easy as possible for the school/department, AERA provides an announcement that the program coordinator sends out throughout the year ending March 2023 and post the announcement in the department. The announcement will provide the website and passcode for students to join and pay their portion of the dues with a credit card. Program coordinators or a designated billing contact will receive an invoice for the participating students in May 2023. 

What is the first step?
If a School/Department is interested in the AERA Doctoral Student Cohort Program, please contact Sean Twombly at stwombly@aera.net or call 202-744-5780.