Federal Budget Would Eliminate Subsidized Loans for Grad and Prof. Schools

Graduate School
1

<p>The Obama Administration has been under severe pressure to find things to cut in the federal budget. One of the proposals is to eliminate all Federally subsidized loans for graduate and professional schools. </p>

<p>As a result, interest rates would rise, and interest would start to acrue a couple months after the loan is taken out.</p>

2

<p>Citation on that proposal?</p>

<p>I’ve only heard of the Federal Pell Grant proposal affecting undergraduates.</p>

3

<p>Good. There’s currently an oversupply in most grad and professional programs. Tuition is out of control many places, and this will help bring numbers back into line.</p>

4

<p>You’re assuming that programs will react to this by lowering tuition rates.</p>

<p>I’d argue that they won’t and that the burden will continue to be left solely on the student to find other sources of funding.</p>

5

<p>You’re right… I meant it more as bringing numbers of STUDENTS back into line. The fact is, apart from some (not all) STEM fields and a few terminal professional masters, graduate school is a risky proposition. For all the wailing on this forum about what school to choose, money is still the best indicator of program quality: if you are fully-- and generously-- funded, it’s a good program. Particularly for PhD programs, I don’t care what the rank is, if you’re not getting a full ride without overly taxing TA or RA duties, it’s a bad deal.</p>

6

<p>^so all funded programs are good?</p>

7

<p>Lesson learned: I should do my PhD at Indiana instead of MIT, because Indiana’s funding offer is much more generous than MIT’s (relative to the cost of living in Bloomington vs Boston, of course) and hence why it’s probably the better program.</p>

8

<p>I agree that you shouldn’t undertake a PhD program without funding, but I don’t agree that the generosity of the funding is reflective of the program’s quality.</p>

<p>I’ve read this article and I honestly don’t think it will deter too many people. As it is, with unsubsidized loans you can defer the interest until you have completed your studies, and with the U.S.'s buy-now-pay-later mentality I don’t think the prospect of a few thousand extra dollars on top of a degree tab that can be anywhere from $60-100K+ is going to deter anyone, especially from MBAs, MPAs, MPPs, and so forth. Especially given that loans are capped at $20,500 and many people have to seek private loans to finance the rest anyway.</p>