Graduate School Student Debt news link

[srru86]

Washington Post
These 20 schools are responsible for a fifth of all graduate school debt
Yes, we make the list at 19.

Slightly surprised by numbers put up by for-profits, off-shore, and on-line schools. Not sure what this says about the folks that suggest the free market and the internet will fix all the problems in education.

I presume the fact we have one of the larger enrollments and not affluent students might have something to with our ranking. We have 19,000 graduate students. Of the other "name brand" schools on the list:

#3 NYU has 17,000.

#4 USC has 24,000 (compared to 19,000 undergrad)

#12 Columbia has 5400 plus 12,000 in professional studies. (Assume they are included here?)

#15 Georgetown has less than 3,000.

#17 George Washington has 14,000.

 

[Upstream]

Washington Post
These 20 schools are responsible for a fifth of all graduate school debt
Yes, we make the list at 19.

Slightly surprised by numbers put up by for-profits, off-shore, and on-line schools. Not sure what this says about the folks that suggest the free market and the internet will fix all the problems in education.

I presume the fact we have one of the larger enrollments and not affluent students might have something to with our ranking. We have 19,000 graduate students. Of the other "name brand" schools on the list:

#3 NYU has 17,000.

#4 USC has 24,000 (compared to 19,000 undergrad)

#12 Columbia has 5400 plus 12,000 in professional studies. (Assume they are included here?)

#15 Georgetown has less than 3,000.

#17 George Washington has 14,000.

These schools represent 12% of grad students and 20% of federal loans. That is not an outrageous difference. And it can certainly be explained by tuition differences, types of graduate programs at each school, and funding sources other than federal loans available at each school.

However, I am curious about how Rutgers is the only public university on the list. I'd be interested in see the actual data, and full list (for instance, is federal loan debt at Rutgers $187 MM, and there are a lot of public schools between #20 and #40 with debt levels from $185-175 MM).

 

[derleider]

These schools represent 12% of grad students and 20% of federal loans. That is not an outrageous difference. And it can certainly be explained by tuition differences, types of graduate programs at each school, and funding sources other than federal loans available at each school.

However, I am curious about how Rutgers is the only public university on the list. I'd be interested in see the actual data, and full list (for instance, is federal loan debt at Rutgers $187 MM, and there are a lot of public schools between #20 and #40 with debt levels from $185-175 MM).

Rutgers is among the most expensive public schools. Its also a big school. And its more liberal arts oriented than its peers.

 

[ruhudsonfan]

RU also has piss-poor "support" among it's PhD students--trust me, I know. For example, in my cohort, there were 20 enrolled PhD students. 5 of us had full Presidential Fellowships which guaranteed full tuition, fees, health insurance and stipend for 5 years no questions asked.

10 other students received some level of tuition remission in exchange for TA/RA responsibilities. They were also given priority to teach, if they already had a masters degree upon enrollment, as a way of making some cash.

5 students received nothing at all. They were there 100% on their own dime, with a lukewarm promise that if they did a good a job in classes, showed a promising research line, networked well and generally kissed enough ass, they *might* get tuition remission and priority to teach down the line.

The only other benefit is that after year 1, you can apply for in-state tuition as graduate student if you go through the motions of officially changing your legal address.

Contrast that with Duke where every incoming PhD is fully funded for 5 years including stipends which can get as high as $37,500 a year. An RU stipend varies, but was between $15-17,500 a few years ago.

you can also contrast that with the Business School, where more than half the class gets substantial money and about 30% are on a full ride.

 

[MidwestKnights]

RU also has piss-poor "support" among it's PhD students--trust me, I know. For example, in my cohort, there were 20 enrolled PhD students. 5 of us had full Presidential Fellowships which guaranteed full tuition, fees, health insurance and stipend for 5 years no questions asked.

10 other students received some level of tuition remission in exchange for TA/RA responsibilities. They were also given priority to teach, if they already had a masters degree upon enrollment, as a way of making some cash.

5 students received nothing at all. They were there 100% on their own dime, with a lukewarm promise that if they did a good a job in classes, showed a promising research line, networked well and generally kissed enough ass, they *might* get tuition remission and priority to teach down the line.

The only other benefit is that after year 1, you can apply for in-state tuition as graduate student if you go through the motions of officially changing your legal address.

Contrast that with Duke where every incoming PhD is fully funded for 5 years including stipends which can get as high as $37,500 a year. An RU stipend varies, but was between $15-17,500 a few years ago.

you can also contrast that with the Business School, where more than half the class gets substantial money and about 30% are on a full ride.

It varies by department and school. A full time TA/Ga at Rutgers is covered under the faculty collective bargaining contract and the scale runs from 25K to 29K based on years in the program/experience in your line. Plus tuition remission, health insurance , etc. Half time is half that and some departments do half time appointments in order to fund more people. A lot of the funding onus is on the various departments and how they a allocate their funding.

And I will never understand why people do a PhD if they aren't funded. That's like 101, don't get funding, don't do the degree.