Columbia and different prime universities push grasp’s packages that fail to generate sufficient earnings for graduates to maintain up with six-figure federal loans. The Wall Avenue Journal reviews:

Latest movie program graduates of Columbia College who took out federal pupil loans had a median debt of $181,000. But two years after incomes their grasp’s levels, half of the debtors have been making lower than $30,000 a 12 months. The Columbia program gives probably the most excessive instance of how elite universities in recent times have awarded 1000’s of grasp’s levels that don’t present graduates sufficient early profession earnings to start paying down their federal pupil loans, based on a Wall Avenue Journal evaluation of Training Division information. Latest Columbia movie alumni had the best debt in contrast with earnings amongst graduates of any main college grasp’s program within the U.S., the Journal discovered. The New York Metropolis college is among the many world’s most prestigious faculties, and its $11.3 billion endowment ranks it the nation’s eighth wealthiest non-public faculty.

For years, college, employees and college students have appealed unsuccessfully to directors to faucet that wealth to help extra graduate college students, based on present and former college and directors, and dozens of scholars. Taxpayers might be on the hook for no matter is left unpaid. Lured by the aura of levels from top-flight establishments, many grasp’s college students at universities throughout the U.S. took on debt past what their pay would assist, the Journal evaluation of federal information on debtors discovered. At Columbia, such college students graduated from packages together with historical past, social work and structure. Columbia College President Lee Bollinger mentioned the Training Division information within the Journal evaluation can’t absolutely assess wage prospects as a result of it covers solely earnings and mortgage repayments two years after commencement. “However,” he mentioned, “this isn’t what we wish it to be.”

At New York College, graduates with a grasp’s diploma in publishing borrowed a median $116,000 and had an annual median earnings of $42,000 two years after this system, the info on latest debtors present. At Northwestern College, half of those that earned levels in speech-language pathology borrowed $148,000 or extra, and the graduates had a median earnings of $60,000 two years later. Graduates of the College of Southern California’s marriage and household counseling program borrowed a median $124,000 and half earned $50,000 or much less over the identical interval. “NYU is all the time centered on affordability, and an necessary a part of that’s, after all, to assist potential college students make knowledgeable choices,” mentioned spokesman John Beckman. Northwestern spokeswoman Hilary Hurd Anyaso mentioned the speech-language pathology program is among the many finest on this planet, resulting in a “gratifying profession path that’s in excessive demand.” USC spokeswoman Lauren Bartlett mentioned offering college students monetary assist and employment alternatives was a precedence for the college.