Beginning July 1, 2026, Grad PLUS loans will no longer be available to new borrowers, ending a long-standing source of flexible federal financing for graduate and professional students. While the policy change is national, its impact will not be uniform — some graduate programs have relied far more heavily on borrowing beyond standard federal loan limits than others.
As institutions prepare for the 2026–27 cycle, spring 2027 cohorts will lose Grad PLUS access, making it urgent to identify programs facing the greatest financing pressure. Which program areas appear most exposed, and what should institutions consider doing now?
Grad PLUS Dependence Was Never Evenly Distributed
In 2024-2025, nearly one third of graduate students (more than 450,000) relied on Grad PLUS loans, up sharply from a quarter of the market less than 10 years ago. The scale is significant: Last year, graduate students borrowed over $15 billion through Grad PLUS, up more than 30% from 2015, even adjusted for inflation.
For many graduate students, direct unsubsidized loans alone do not fully cover program costs. Historically, most graduate students could borrow up to $20,500 per year through direct unsubsidized federal loans, then use Grad PLUS loans to cover remaining eligible costs up to the school’s cost of attendance. For example, a student in a two-year, $60,000 master’s program could borrow $41,000 through unsubsidized loans over two years, leaving a $19,000 shortfall that Grad PLUS loans would have covered. Private nonprofits may feel this shift most acutely. While they enroll 43% of graduate students, they account for more than half of Grad PLUS recipients and nearly two-thirds of Grad PLUS dollars borrowed.
Where Borrowing Pressure Is Concentrated
The National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS) offers insight into where master’s students most frequently borrowed above $41,000 — the standard amount available through two years of federal unsubsidized borrowing. Figure 1, which shows borrowing patterns by field of study, shows that 18% of all master’s students exceeded this threshold, but rates varied sharply by field.
Figure 1 shows that 32% of master’s students studying health borrowed more than this amount, followed by social and behavioral sciences (29%) and law (20%). These areas often combine higher tuition costs, longer program duration, and credentials associated with stronger earnings potential which led to a greater willingness to borrow.
By contrast, only 7% of math, engineering, and computer science students borrowed more than $41,000. Within these fields, employers frequently subsidize tuition, and students can more often pay out of pocket thanks to higher early-career salaries.
This shows that borrowing intensity is not uniform, but clustered among certain fields. Under the new loan caps, disciplines like health and social/behavioral sciences could be hardest hit, as students in these programs already rely most heavily on borrowing.
Debt Levels Reveal a Similar Pattern
College Scorecard debt outcomes for master’s programs reinforce this uneven picture. Table 1 shows average debt for master’s graduates by broad field of study.
Interestingly, Table 1 shows that the broad field of Communications Technologies/Technicians and Support Services has the highest average master’s debt, at $68,333. This field represents a small master’s market, with program data reported from arts academies, suggesting a link between program prestige and high tuition costs.
Fields such as Health Professions ($57,445), Legal Professions ($58,850), and Architecture ($56,456) also reflect relatively high average debt levels which are consistent with programs where students have historically been willing to borrow more.
Some high-debt categories are more surprising. Visual and Performing Arts, Foreign Languages, and certain niche professional programs suggest that factors such as institutional prestige and small cohort size may matter as much as return on investment.
This underscores an important reality: Graduate debt is influenced not only by program length or income potential, but also by institutional characteristics and market dynamics unique to each field.
The Bottom Line
Last summer, Ryan Craig called this “The End of the Golden Age of Master's Degrees." While that made for a compelling headline, a more precise diagnosis is the end of easy financing for high-cost graduate programs with weak value propositions. Not all institutions, however, will feel this shift equally. Private nonprofit institutions — and programs in health, social sciences, and law — face the most acute pressure, as their students have historically relied more heavily on borrowing beyond standard federal loan limits.
Doing nothing is also a risky strategy. Many students may first turn to private loans, which are typically tied to creditworthiness and income. This could end up narrowing access for many prospective students.
Proactive institutions will respond by:
- Rethinking program design. Ironically, faster is not always more financially manageable under tighter annual loan caps. Institutions should review program length, credit load, and full-time/part-time thresholds to determine whether additional pacing options could better align program design with student financing realities.
- Expanding financing alternatives. Institutions should expand graduate program scholarships and set aside need-based aid, seek employer-funded partnerships, and evaluate income-share agreements to provide alternative funding avenues.
- Owning the value conversation. As borrowing becomes more constrained, prospective students will increasingly scrutinize program value. Institutions must be transparent about total cost and likely borrowing needs, while clearly communicating career outcomes, skills gained, alumni networks, and the broader return on investment. Institutions that adapt early may remain competitive.
Grad PLUS did not just fund graduate education; it often masked affordability and value problems institutions long avoided. Now those problems become harder to ignore.
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