Stellar Snippets
A new report by the U.S. Department of Education has found that rising graduate school borrowing has now posed a "cause for concern".
Alarmingly, as graduate school borrowing increases, wages for those with an advanced degree haven’t changed much.
The department's recent report examined around 5,300 graduate programs to study the amounts that graduates are borrowing to pay for their degrees.
From 2000 to 2016, the proportion of students borrowing over $80,000 for their degrees surged to nearly 11% in 2016, a significant increase from 1.4% in 2000.
Department economists caution that if trends persist, grad loan disbursements could surpass undergrad disbursements soon.
The Education Department's discoveries imply that "net returns of graduate degrees may have fallen over the past 20 years."
This is leading to increased challenges for graduate and professional school students in repaying their student debt.
Individuals with graduate degrees still typically earn higher salaries compared to those who stopped their education after college.