Beyond Grad PLUS: The Future of Financing Graduate Education

For years, students pursuing post-baccalaureate credentials had access to the Graduate PLUS (Grad PLUS) loan program, which functioned as a blank check for borrowing up to the full cost of attendance, regardless of a program’s outcomes or the student’s ability to repay. That expanded opportunity came at a steep cost. Many programs that should have been solid entry points to upper-middle-class careers instead saddled students with loan balances that bore little relationship to the salaries available in their chosen fields.

In response, Congress eliminated the Grad PLUS program altogether and established borrowing limits for graduate students. While this shift creates short-term financing challenges for aspiring students, it is also a critical opportunity for policymakers to rethink the structure of advanced training and transform it into a durable engine of opportunity and mobility.

This series aims to offer new perspective on how advanced professional training can be responsibly supported in the short- and long-term. The policy ideas here envision a system where risks and rewards are more evenly shared among students, institutions, employers, and the public—so that advanced degrees remain secure pathways to economic mobility rather than high-stakes financial gambles. 

Find additional work from our team on graduate education here.