Dear Editor of the Toledo Free Press,
Many of us have watched with consternation as the Trump administration has upended policies over the past seven months. While I do not want to be an advocate for many Trump policies, it is also important that we consider how some of his policies may save money and years of wasted time for many students who are considering entering graduate school.
Over the past decade, we have all become aware of former students with crippling student debt of $200,000 and up. Much of this debt was accumulated while attending graduate programs to obtain a masters degree, a PhD or a professional degree such as law, veterinary, medical, etc. These large student loans are often obtained through the federal Grad Plus program that allows students to borrow up to $50,000 per year. Under Trump, this program will be terminated in 2026.
For years, reputable commentators from both left-leaning and right-leaning sources have pointed out the problems created by incentivizing borrowing for graduate programs. For example, in 2020, the liberal-leaning Center for American Progress (CAP) pointed out that Black students are much more likely to carry large student debt due to graduate programs than are white students.
The CAP report noted that an excess of students in “graduate school has the potential to hinder all the efforts at boosting mobility that come from undergraduate education.” It may be that encouraging too many undergraduates to continue studies in graduate programs diminishes the relative value of an undergraduate degree. This may make it more difficult for low-income students to become upwardly mobile.
The rapid development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) may also greatly diminish the value of many graduate degrees. Graduate degrees often take two to eight years to complete. It is not clear which of these degrees will have value when completed.
Recently, Dr. Jad Tarifi, who founded Google’s first AI team, discussed the value of entering a PhD program in today’s environment. He opined that many would-be PhD students should skip the “five years” and “a lot of pain” associated with earning a PhD. He suggests that those who skip a PhD will “move much faster” and “learn a lot more” by focusing “on just living in the world.”
As an educator, it may hurt to say it, but it is time for the federal government to stop encouraging too many students to take out up to $200,000 in graduate-school debt.
Douglas Oliver
While Dr. Oliver is a Professor Emeritus at the University of Toledo (UT), these views are his and not necessarily those of UT.
