The exorbitant cost of higher education in the United States, and the ensuing student debt crisis it has created is no secret. The full scope of student borrowing was recently revealed when the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) released information for the first time regarding how much debt students are incurring to earn degrees from various academic programs across American colleges and universities.

This DOE data demonstrates that a particular sector of higher education accounts for an outsized proportion of this debt quagmire: graduate school. The master’s degree market has exploded in recent years with accredited universities creating esoteric degrees as they see fit, setting arbitrary tuition rates, and signing up students for federal loans. While for-profit colleges offering undergraduate degrees and professional accreditations have borne the brunt of collective scorn for their recruitment practices and abysmal matriculation rates, “traditional” graduate schools at accredited universities have done more than their share to contribute to the American student debt debacle.

Unlike federal undergraduate student loans, which are limited to $31,000 for students who are financially dependent on their parents and $57,500 for those who are not, there are no hard limits on the amount students can borrow for graduate school. Any student who passes a credit check can borrow the full cost of attending any accredited graduate school, regardless of how much money they have in the bank. Furthermore, graduate students can borrow not only for tuition costs but also for living expenses, resulting in increased debt obligations, particularly for those attending school in expensive housing markets.

While borrowing for graduate school can often be a sound financial decision, the new DOE data suggests that the graduate school market works in bizarre and unpredictable ways: demand and prices don’t always rise commensurately with the value of services rendered. For example, the majority of social workers earn less than $50,000 per year, yet the average debt incurred by a student earning a master’s in social work from the University of Southern California was close to $110,000.

Gaining admission to veterinary school is an incredibly competitive endeavor: vet school acceptance rates are comparable with those for medical school. Veterinary school is also incredibly expensive. Recent studies conducted by the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) show that the average vet school student graduates with over $143,000 of debt, and 20% of graduates leave school with upwards of $200,000 to pay off. However, veterinary salaries, which start around $67,000 annually, simply are not keeping pace with rising tuition.

Debt can vary tremendously within the same graduate field of study. For example, Logan University in Missouri offers a master’s degree in dietetics and clinical nutrition that students on average borrow $150,000 to receive. Students obtaining the same degree from Utah State University graduated with an average debt of $17,000. A master’s of architecture from Pratt Institute in New York resulted in an average debt burden of $157,000; the same degree from Ohio State produced average student debt of $38,000.

While the Department of Education’s data might seem to many a canary in the coal mine, the reality is that it will likely do little to abate poor financial decision-making when it comes to the pursuit of graduate studies. The DOE has been publishing college graduation rates for over a decade, yet students continue to enroll in schools with abhorrent matriculation rates. Trained recruiters target students, and universities spend millions of dollars to convince students that taking on large student debt loads for graduate school will pay off. While the federal government has long financed these loans without any questions asked, other than a rudimentary credit check, prospective students would be wise to consider whether their investment is a sound one.

The new DOE data is an incredibly valuable tool that those considering graduate school should use to gauge the amount of debt they can expect to incur in pursuing a particular course of study. This data can be especially useful in comparing various schools offering the same degree: often times students will find that comparable degrees at comparable schools are very incomparably priced.

The DOE’s student loan information can be found at www.collegescorecard.ed.gov. If you have any questions whatsoever about pursuing graduate studies of any kind, please feel free to reach out to Maki Gorchynsky at maki@mosereducational.com.