One-third of students owe more money than they initially borrowed five years after leaving graduate school, according to a new analysis.
As a result, many graduates find themselves drowning in debt, unable to pay down the interest, suggests a study from nonprofits the HEA Group and National Student Legal Defense Network (Student Defense).
HEA was founded by Michael Itzkowitz, former director of the Department of Education’s College Scorecard.
The cost of education has been a hot topic with President Joe Biden’s push to cancel student loans, but less scrutiny has been focused on graduate school.
“We have little accountability around graduate programs,” Itzkowitz told CBS MoneyWatch. “We’ve heard tons of stories about students leaving graduate programs while drowning in debt. These data suggest that many of them are probably true.”
HEA and Student Defense examined 1,661 institutions and 6,371 programs to find out how graduates were handling loans after getting their degrees.
The findings “raise a lot of cause for concern,” Itzkowitz said.
“It means that grads are not making payments that are large enough to at least cover the minimum payment,” he told MoneyWatch. “What that also means is that they now owe more than the amount that they originally borrowed five years prior.”
Students at 528, or 32%, of the 1,661 schools examined owed more on their loans five years after graduation.
For-profit and private non-profit institutions resulted in the most unpaid debt, the analysis found.
Walden University saw their loan balances grow the most, the report said. Walden is a for-profit, online institution that offers master’s and doctorate programs in fields such as nursing and criminal justice.
The typical Walden graduate can expect to make $72,000 but is also carrying $175,000 in student debt, the report determined.
“One of the things that Consumer Financial Protection Bureau recommends is that you should at least be making as much, if not more than, the amount of debt that you are taking out,” Itzkowitz said.
Walden did not return calls asking for comment from MoneyWatch.