Finance Graduate Education

In 2019–20, just under one-third of students who earned research doctoral degrees (30.1 percent) borrowed an average of $63,557 to fund their graduate education, compared with 53.4 percent of master’s degree recipients who borrowed an average of $47,906 and 77.6 percent of professional doctorate recipients who borrowed an average of $150,290. About six in 10 Black or African American research doctoral students (60.5 percent) borrowed an average of $103,085—the highest share and amount of any group. Nearly half of Hispanic or Latino research doctoral students (47.1 percent) borrowed an average of $81,998, much lower than Black or African American students’ borrowing levels but much higher than the overall averages of all racial and ethnic groups. White students borrowed at a higher rate (39.5 percent) but borrowed a smaller average amount ($59,912) than the overall average of all racial and ethnic groups.

Many of research doctoral degree students had debt that remained from their undergraduate education. The shares of research doctoral degree recipients with combined debt for undergraduate and graduate education ranged from 7.7 percent of international students and 27.5 percent of Asian students to 72.3 percent of Hispanic or Latino students. Black or African American research doctoral degree recipients left graduate school with an average of $117,151 per borrower for combined undergraduate and graduate education debt—much higher than the average total debt per borrower of Hispanic or Latino ($72,572) and White ($55,215) students.