Median earnings, costs, and debt across different types of graduate degrees in different fields

 

The Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce has released Graduate Degrees: Risky and Unequal Paths to the Top, which examines median earnings, costs, and debt across different types of graduate degrees in different fields of study, along with equity gaps in graduate degree attainment and earnings outcomes by race/ethnicity and gender. The report, supported by Arnold Ventures, also proposes improvements to transparency and accountability in graduate education through a new regulatory framework for Grad PLUS loan eligibility that builds upon the US Department of Education’s 2023 Gainful Employment (GE) and Financial Value Transparency (FVT) Regulations. Higher earnings, lower unemployment rates, career advancement, and a genuine curiosity for learning all drive interest in graduate education, but high costs and rising student debt levels undermine the perceived value of graduate degrees. While the economy of the future will increasingly require professionals with advanced degrees, graduate costs have increased 233 percent since 2000. The current trajectories of cost and debt put graduate education out of reach for too many students. Graduate students have two federal loan financing options: Direct Unsubsidized Stafford loans and Grad PLUS loans. Grad PLUS loans broaden access to graduate education and provide financing options with more protections than the private loan market. But they can also be a source of excessive debt—limited only by the cost of attendance, an amount that universities set with few incentives to rein in costs.