Students may also have been lured into graduate school by the rosy academic job projections of the 1980s.

But with so many people going to graduate school, many scholars are beginning to wonder Whether Ph.D.s aren't being overproduced, Indeed, some call it "unethical" for institutions to mass-produce Ph.D.s knowing that their job prospects are discouraging.

"There are absolutely too many Ph.D.s being produced and their quality varies significantly," Wolff says. "Harvard, for example, is becoming much more selective--that makes it particularly painful for us when our Ph.D.s do not find jobs."

Another reason for the dearth of academic positions is the uncapping of the mandatory retirement age. Tenured professors can no longer be forced to step down at a certain age, and their lifetime appointments mean they can hold down valuable spots.

"Many faculty members are no longer retiring when they normally would have," Wolff says. "There's no room for young faculty."

Until most institutions make their final provisions for retirement incentive programs--provisions Harvard itself has still not finalized--the current academic job crunch will continue.

The result will be that students who entered graduate school in joyous pursuit of an intellectual mission will often come to the end disillusioned and regretful.

"Almost all Ph.D. students are totally committed to their fields and don't begrudge any of the hard work they put in earning their degrees," says one student who will receive a doctorate in English today.

"But I'm not so committed now that I have no way to support myself with this passion."