Why Graduate School Is About to Get Harder to Pay For
Speakers
Rohit Chopra
— Former Director, CFPB; Secretary, California Business and Consumer Services Agency
Tania Tetlow
— President, Fordham University
Summary
The video examines the end of the Grad PLUS loan program, which capped federal graduate student borrowing, potentially shifting billions in loan volume to private lenders and creating funding challenges for universities and students in lower-paying fields.
- Grad PLUS loans, introduced in 2006, allowed uncapped graduate borrowing and grew from $2B to $15B annually.
- New caps (e.g., $20,500/year for most programs) take effect July 1, 2026.
- Private lenders are expected to fill the gap, with CEOs noting they can offer competitive rates using credit-based underwriting.
- Universities worry about enrollment declines, especially in education and social work programs.
- Critics warn private loans lack borrower protections and could lead to higher defaults.
- Some schools are seeking short-term workarounds like early summer starts to allow one more year of uncapped borrowing.
Ideas
Rohit Chopra
Former Director, CFPB; Secretary, California Business and Consumer Services Agency
5:41
Private lenders boom from Grad PLUS elimination
With the elimination of uncapped Grad PLUS federal loans, a significant volume of graduate student borrowing will shift to private lenders, creating a boom for financial institutions that offer private student loans, as they can price credit based on repayment expectations and capture lending volume previously held by the government.
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This Bloomberg Markets video, published July 26, 2026, features Rohit Chopra discussing Private student lenders. 1 trade idea extracted by AI with direction and confidence scoring.
Speakers: Rohit Chopra · Tickers: Private student lenders