Planet Money · Wednesday, July 1, 2026
While the net price of undergraduate college education has remained largely unchanged, net tuition for graduate school has significantly increased. A substantial portion of the $1.7 trillion in federal student loan debt is attributed to graduate studies.
“So the cost of undergraduate college, the net price of undergraduate college net, not sticker, net, has not budged much.”
“So Corey says schools advertise eye-popping tuition rates, but after financial aid and scholarships, the amount that families actually end up paying for undergrad, really has not been changing.”
“grad school is the place where net tuition has really ballooned out of control.”
“Whenever people like me talk about the $1.7 trillion federal student loan portfolio, a huge chunk of that is actually grad school debt.”