The non-completion of doctoral degrees has been a concern due to its economic, social, and personal consequences. In the current study, the researchers investigated perceived barriers of select doctoral students in completing their doctoral degrees by utilizing a fully mixed sequential mixed research design. The quantitative and qualitative data were concurrently collected using identical samples (n = 205) via a Reading Interest Survey questionnaire. A sequential mixed analysis revealed 6 emergent themes: "external obligations" (36%), "challenges to doctoral-level researchers" (34%), "practical/logistical constraints" (23%), "emotional concerns" (15%), "program structure" (9%), and "support for completion" (8%). Also, 3 meta-themes were identified (i.e., "dissociation," "external/internal barriers," and "institutional/personal barriers"), which aided in explaining the relationships among the 6 primary themes. Implications of the findings are discussed.