A report calls for two federal initiatives to boost the number of US students enrolling in graduate school. 'The path forward', by the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) in Washington DC and the Educational Testing Service in Princeton, New Jersey, proposes doctoral traineeships and competitive master's grants. Traineeships would give students a stipend and fund their institutions to build programmes or develop strategies to help PhD students complete their courses. The hope is to reduce dropouts, says CGS president Debra Stewart. The plan aims, in particular, to encourage enrolment from under-represented minorities, Stewart notes.