These 20 Schools Are Responsible for a Fifth of All Graduate School Debt

In this Oct. 6, 2011 photo, Gan Golan of Los Angeles, dressed as the “Master of Degrees,” holds a ball and chain representing his college loan debt during Occupy DC activities in (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

(The Washington Post) – Getting an advanced degree doesn’t come cheap, which is why graduate students carry nearly half of all student debt. But it turns out that a handful of schools are responsible for a large share of that money.

A new study from the Center for American Progress (CAP) found that 20 universities received one-fifth, or $6.5 billion, of the total amount of loans the government gave graduate students in the 2013-2014 academic year. Those schools, however, only educate 12 percent of all graduate students.

What’s striking about the Center’s findings is that a majority of the debt taken to attend the 20 schools on its list is not for law or medical degrees that promise hefty paydays. Most graduate students at those schools are seeking master’s degrees in journalism, fine arts or government, according to CAP.

Still, at two foreign medical schools, St. George’s University in Grenada and Ross University in Dominica, students borrowed more than $200 million in a single school year. Medical schools in the Caribbean are often a refuge for students rejected from top American schools, but their tuition easily rival schools in the United States. Tuition for one semester at Ross, for instance, costs up to $21,710.

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