Like so many government programs, the DOE Student Loan Program has been a complete failure. The only ones who benefited are colleges and universities who were enabled to keep raising tuition and adding graduate programs to rake in more federal subsidies with little consideration for student outcomes. College students today graduate six figures in debt with a lower chance of employment than someone with a community college or vocational school degree.
While the DOE caps the total amount of federal loans undergrads can take out, there is no limit for graduate students. Colleges have chosen to boost revenue by adding pricey graduate programs and enrolling more graduate students. … They have added master’s programs in such fields as social work, humanitarianism, community-development and Middle Eastern studies—often costing six figures—to rake in more federal dollars.
In addition to the negative financial effects on students and their families, there has been a serious negative societal effect as well. The growth of graduate programs and academic departments in social sciences and humanities whose primary goals are to promote left-wing political causes has greatly increased campus radicalism. The ringleaders of anti-Israel protests on many campuses have typically been graduate students.
Most research universities enroll two to three times as many graduate students as undergrads. Universities often waive tuition for graduate students in return for their teaching or assisting with undergraduate classes which means grads can get their degrees partly paid for while helping radicalize undergrads.