Grad Students Saddled With Debt

You wouldn’t pay the same amount for a Mercedes as you would for a Honda. That’s just common sense! When speaking in terms of collegiate education, the conversation is no different. Would you pay the same tuition for a Yale degree as a degree from an unknown, strictly-online university? You would think not, but there are many out there who are doing just that.

Those benefiting most from federal loan programs are low-quality, for-profit schools that offer education to essentially anyone who has money or who qualifies to borrow it. A recent study released by the Center for American Progress showed that just 20 universities account for one-fifth of student debt at the graduate level, and even more importantly, 10 are for-profit colleges. Graduate schooling does statistically improve your career choices, and those holding graduate degrees do earn more money over the span of their lifetime as opposed to bachelor’s graduates. This does not discount the fact however, that there is such thing as a useless degree.

There were five for-profit schools in the aforementioned study’s top 10, including Walden University, University of Phoenix, Capella University, Grand Canyon University, and Strayer University. Walden topped all schools, for-profit and non, with $756,336,024 in grad student debt.

The Higher Education Act

Under the Higher Education Act, graduate students are able to borrow up to $50,000 per year, far more than what is available to undergrads. These for-profit universities sway students to pursue a graduate degree rather than just a bachelor’s, in hopes of getting them to borrow far more money. It is this cycle that propels many students into debt at such a young age.

If you find yourself in debt and don’t know where to turn, Kelley Kaplan & Eller can help. We invite you to set up an initial consultation with our West Palm Beach student loan attorney and begin your path to financial recovery today.