Graduate Education

A decades-old partnership between federal research agencies and research universities has helped sustain doctoral education in the United States – but new data show that universities are cutting back on admitting new PhD students as they face an increasingly unstable federal research funding landscape. This weakening of the partnership portends serious consequences for the nation’s scientific workforce, innovation capacity, and global competitiveness.

In a comment letter submitted last week, AAU argued that the new rules place too much emphasis on literal monetary returns on certain kinds of degree programs, while undervaluing their worth to society.

The new caps will make it significantly harder for Americans to attend law school and medical school or to obtain training for professions, including nursing, that require advanced education.

New U.S. Department of Education (ED) rules implementing the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) will eliminate the Grad PLUS loan program as a source of financial aid and impose a new tiered system of annual and lifetime loan caps for graduate and professional degrees.

Last week, AAU submitted a comment letter urging the Department of Education to delay finalizing a proposed rule that would implement changes to the federal student loan programs initially enacted last year in the H.R. 1 reconciliation bill.

The Fulbright Program recognized the higher education institutions in the United States that produced the most Fulbright students and scholars last year – AAU member institutions again lead the list.

A new report by researchers at the Philadelphia Federal Reserve finds that new student loan limits imposed by Congress will lead to approximately one in eight graduate students struggling to secure sufficient educational loans from the private sector beginning in the upcoming academic year.

New proposals being considered by the Education Department will limit the number of degree programs that can be considered as “professional,” thereby curtailing the number of programs that will be eligible for higher loan limits set under H.R.1.

In times of financial uncertainty and shrinking federal resources, it is essential that research universities continue to invest in robust career development and professional resources for graduate students and postdoctoral scholars.

The bill places a cap on graduate loans, reduces student aid eligibility, and increases the endowment tax.