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This study aligns with the research that reports older students returning to school are less likely to graduate and if they do persist, their degree plans often take longer than their peers (Aitchison & Guerin, 2014b; Baker, 1998; Bosanquet et al., 2014; Casanave, 2002; LaFrance & Corbett, 2020; Russell, 2013; Wolfsberger, 2014). This research shows that a peer writing coach model wherein a peer who is an expert in writing (in my case an experienced English teacher and Ph.D. candidate in Rhetoric and Composition Studies) meets one-on-one with graduate writers and tailors their role according to the needs of the individual student can have a tremendous impact on the student and facilitate writing progress that might otherwise drag out for years, extend the time the student spends in their program, and increase the likelihood of the student quitting before finishing their degree (Caruth, 2015; Council of Graduate Schools, 2015; Holmes et al., 2018).
Universities can support their graduate writers by implementing a peer writing coach model that includes instructional, emotional, and social tools. In a perfect world with endless funding, graduate schools at every university could hire several professional graduate writing coaches to work with willing graduate students. The coaches could provide feedback, instruction, mentoring, and socialization, thus, taking some of the burdens from advisors and giving graduate students an additional invaluable resource. As graduate coaching requires intense involvement with individual graduate writers, each coach could only be expected to work with between 10 and 15 students. The student and coach would create a contract that detailed the expectations for each party within the university’s guidelines. The coach could work with the graduate student until the student no longer wished for support or graduated. The coaching position would be a full-time position and could entail teaching a writing course (possibly the one outlined in this project), working with graduate writers who do not request a coach but do utilize the University Writing Center, and possibly working with faculty on grants and publications.
Instead of hiring full-time professional writing coaches, graduate students in Rhetoric and Writing Studies (RWS) or those from other fields with training in RWS pedagogy, once they have become doctoral candidates, could be offered positions that are similar to professional writing coaches. They would undergo training like Writing Center consultants as well as modules for working with graduate students and advisors. Instead of taking traditional teaching assistant positions, they could be assigned between 4 and 6 graduate students with whom they would work with on projects for the duration of their degree or the duration of the graduate’s project, whichever finished first. If the student had been working with a peer writing coach that graduated, moved on, or needed to change coaches, the previous coach could brief the incoming coach on their writers’ situations. The RWS experts in genre analysis could assist graduate writers with questions about their projects; they can also help with citation systems, language issues, and be a social support as well.
By encouraging research that centers the experiences of marginalized writers, universities could better inform the design of future writing supports that address the complications of standpoint and could support the entire graduate student body. Research that centers the experience of advisors could also inform the design of graduate supports that relieve advisors of some of the pressures of working with graduate students without detracting from their authority as advisors. By designing, providing, and encouraging flexible writing supports, universities may see a rise in the number of successful students graduating in a timely fashion.