Unlimited government loans for grad students fuel skyrocketing debt burden

Columbia University campus.
(Image credit: Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Graduates of top-tier master's programs are increasingly unable to make enough in their early careers to put a dent in their insurmountable student loans, a Wall Street Journal analysis reveals, thanks in part to a federal Grad Plus loan program with "no fixed limit on how much grad students can borrow."

Grad Plus, which students might use to cover the cost of tuition, fees, and living expenses — is the fastest-growing federal student loan program, reports the Journal, with recent interest rates as high as 7.9 percent. "No-limit loans" produce graduate program cash cows, and prestigious schools benefitting from the increased interest and "free-flowing" money can raise tuition unchecked, the Journal writes.

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Brigid Kennedy

Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.