Ivy League graduate students are drowning in debt up to $200K, yet earn as low as $30K two years after graduation mazech.com
Many graduate students at some of America’s most prestigious universities are drowning in debt up to $200,000, yet most earn as little as $30,000 two years after graduation.
A recent article published by the Wall Street journal reveals the struggles students face in the highly competitive programs at Ivy league schools that leave many of them broke and wondering if the degrees are worth being saddled by six-figure debt.
The article cited Columbia University as one of the main schools charging exorbitant tuition but offering little financial help or guidance in return.
According to the report, recent film graduates of the university who took out federal student loans had a median debt of $181,000 while making a median income of $30,000 just two years later.
Lee Bollinger, the President of Columbia University disputes the data, stating it is not a true reflection of the students’ success given that the data only looked at two years after graduation. But Bollinger also reportedly said ‘Nevertheless, this is not what we want it to be.’
The Columbia University offers the most extreme example of how elite universities in recent years have awarded thousands of master’s degrees that don’t provide graduates enough early career earnings to begin paying down their federal student loans, according to the WSJ analysis of Education Department data.
‘There’s always those 2 a.m. panic attacks where you’re thinking, ‘How the hell am I ever going to pay this off?’ ‘ said 29-year-old Zack Morrison, of New Jersey, who graduated from Columbia in 2018 with a Master of Fine arts in film. He currently owes about $300,000, including accrued interest, and earns between $30,000 and $50,000 a year as a Hollywood assistant with independent film side gigs.
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