Debt Varies by Discipline for Graduate Students

Ph.D. recipients tend to accumulate more debt in disciplines that receive less financial support from their universities or external sources. About half of students finish their Ph.D. programs with no education-related debt at all; they are included in the averages below.

Average education-related debt by discipline for Ph.D. recipients in 2013

Source: Survey of Earned Doctorates by the National Science Foundation and five other federal agencies Get the data