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A 2014 report titled “The Graduate Student Debt Review,” by New America Foundation, a non-partisan public policy agency, analyzed recent data by the Department of Education and revealed that much of the $1.2 trillion student debt is a result of graduate and professional degrees rather than from the cost of undergraduate education.
Before the report, much of the discussion regarding the rising student debt in America had focused on undergraduate student loan debt.
According to the report, debt for students who earned a range of master’s and professional degrees has surged in recent years. The trend gained momentum in the years between 2008 and 2012.
In 2004, the median level debt for a student who earned a Master of Arts degree was $38,000, and in 2012 the median was $59,000.
The amount of debt also changes according to the type of graduate program. According to the report, in 2012 law students finished with an estimated $128,125 in student loans, while MBA students finished with approximately $36,000 of debt.
Joseph Flores, a first-year graduate student studying communication, always wanted to go to graduate school.
“I’ve always liked the realm of academia and being in school,” Flores said.
However, Flores said it was also economic necessity that brought him back to school.
According to 2012 data from the Census Bureau’s Populations survey, about 1.5 million, or 53.6 percent, of bachelor’s degree-holders under the age of 25 last year were jobless or underemployed, the highest share in at least 11 years.
Out of the 1.5 million who languished in the job market, about half were underemployed, an increase from the previous year. Despite the costs that come attached to graduate school, some students feel the need to continue onto graduate school out of economic necessity.
“It’s not just my story—it’s a lot of people’s stories,” Flores said. “You have kids who are paying large amounts of money for degrees, but are having trouble finding jobs. It’s just the way it seems to work now.”
Like many graduate students, Flores is paying for graduate school through federal student loans.
“In the world we live in today, the more education you have, the more opportunities you have. But a lot of the access to education is being cut and a lot of the ways people are paying for school now is just school loans,” Flores said. “It’s a vicious way to exist in the world of education. For many of us that’s just the reality
of our situation.”
The New America report cites that 58.6 percent of students graduating with a master’s or professional degree are taking out loans to help them pay for school.
According to Gary Edens, vice president of Student Affairs, a little under 15 percent of loans taken out at UTEP are attributed to graduate students.
However, not all graduate students who go into graduate school are guaranteed to leave with debt.
Skye Schultz is also a first-year graduate student studying to attain her Master of Business Administration. Schultz plans to go to medical school after graduate school and said she sought an MBA because she wants to open her own surgical practice one day.
“Those business skills are something doctors generally don’t have and that’s something that’s becoming more prevalent and important to have,” Schultz said. “In fact, there’s doctors going back to school to get their MBA, and so getting it ahead of time, it kind of puts me at an advantage.”
Schultz is paying for most of her school through scholarships and fellowships. She hasn’t had to take out any loans.
As an undergraduate, Schultz was an athlete on the soccer team and had most of her schooling paid for through an athletic scholarship. The worry of how she would pay for graduate school after her athletic scholarship ran out spurred her to plan ahead for graduate school.
“I had an athletic scholarship that covered a large portion of what I was going on in academics that only lasted four years,” Schultz said. “I wasn’t sure what I was going to be able to do because that was a big chunk of my funding, so I went to my advisor.”
Schutlz’s advisor was able to inform her about an upcoming fellowship and recommended it to her. Schultz ended up attaining the fellowship, which along with scholarships has helped her pay for her education.
According to Edens, 14.8 percent of students awarded UTEP scholarships in the 2013 – 14 academic year were masters and doctoral students.
Flores said that his decision to enter graduate school was a sudden decision and that if he would have done more research ahead of time, his financial situation might be
less burdensome.
“There are ways to receive so that you don’t have to pay for grad school all on your own,” Flores said. “I kind of just, from one day to the next, was like it’s time to do this. My advice would be to start (researching) early.”
Schultz recommends students interested in attending graduate school talk to both undergraduate and graduate advisors.
“They can sort of help guide you from there, otherwise you’re sort of fumbling around in the dark and it’s just much more difficult if you do it that way,” Schultz said.
Maria Esquinca may be reached at [email protected].
