Survey of Earned Doctorates

The Survey of Earned Doctorates asks doctorate recipients to indicate the amount of money they owe that is directly tied to their undergraduate and to their graduate educations, from no debt to debt of $90,000 or more, in $10,000 increments. In 2018, 57% of doctorate recipients reported no education-related debt versus 43% with debt (17% reported cumulative debt—both undergraduate and graduate debt—15% only graduate debt, and 11% only undergraduate debt). The amount of debt was highest, as expected, among those reporting cumulative debt, with a mean debt of $78,757. Graduate-only debt was higher than undergraduate-only debt ($39,803 versus $24,899) (table A).

Debt varies by field of study, particularly at the graduate level. Doctorate recipients in S&E fields were less likely than those in non-S&E fields to have incurred debt and less likely to have debt over $60,000, both at the undergraduate and graduate levels (figure 25).

Doctorate recipients in psychology and social sciences, in education, and in other non-S&E fields were the most likely to have graduate debt and undergraduate debt. In addition, nearly half of those in communication and in humanities and arts had graduate debt (figure 26).

Among doctorate recipients with debt, the amount of mean debt varied greatly by field of study at the graduate level, but much less so at the undergraduate level (figure 27). Mean debt at the undergraduate level was lowest among doctorate recipients in mathematics and computer sciences ($25,483) and highest among those in education ($33,901) and other non-S&E fields ($36,245). Mean graduate debt was lowest in physical sciences and earth sciences ($26,815) but nearly double that amount in psychology and social sciences ($52,612), education ($52,817), and other non-S&E fields ($52,915). Differences in mean graduate debt by field reflect the influence of several factors that vary across fields of study, including the sources of financial support and the median time to complete the doctoral degree (see section Path to the doctorate, figure 16 and figure 18, respectively).

The proportion of S&E doctorate recipients who reported graduate debt was 32% between 2009 and 2015 and declined to 28% by 2018 (figure 28). The percentage of S&E doctorate recipients reporting graduate debt of more than $60,000 increased from 7% to 9% between 2009 and 2013 and has remained stable since then. Among non-S&E doctorate recipients, the proportion reporting graduate debt increased from 49% to 53% between 2009 and 2014 and then declined back to 49% by 2018. The proportion of non-S&E doctorate recipients with more than $60,000 in graduate debt increased 5 percentage points between 2009 and 2014 (from 14% to 19%) but has remained stable since then. Some of these changes over time may be due to inflation. A debt of $60,000 in 2009 was equivalent to $70,228 in 2018.^{​To calculate these values, the Consumer Index Price (CPI) of 214.537 was used for 2009 and CPI of 251.107 for 2018 (for CPI data, see https://www.bls.gov/cpi/tables/supplemental-files/home.htm).}

In 2018, the proportion of doctorate recipients with graduate debt was highest in education and other non-S&E fields; in these fields, 55% or more had graduate education-related debt. In addition, between 2009 and 2018, the proportion of doctorate recipients with graduate debt in these two broad fields increased while it declined in all other broad fields. Among doctorate recipients with debt, mean graduate debt increased by more than $10,000 in life sciences, psychology and social sciences, education, and in other non-S&E fields (figure 29).

Doctorate recipients with degrees from institutions with the highest research activity (75% of all doctorates in 2018) and from special focus 4-year medical schools and centers (about 2% of all doctorates in 2018) were the least likely to have graduate debt and to have high levels of debt (figure 30). (See Carnegie Classification in the Glossary section for types of institutions.) More than 70% of doctorate recipients in these institutions had no graduate debt, and only between 8% and 11% of them owed more than $60,000. In contrast, doctorate recipients at doctoral institutions with moderate research activity (about 4% of all doctorates in 2018) and those at master’s colleges and universities (about 1% of all doctorates in 2018) were the most likely to have graduate debt and owe more than $60,000.

The availability of financial support provided by institutions is associated with the likelihood and level of graduate debt. Doctoral institutions with the highest research activity and medical schools and centers were the most likely to provide financial support, such as research and teaching assistantships, traineeships, fellowships, scholarships, or dissertation grants (figure 31). In contrast, about two-thirds (64%) of doctorate recipients in doctoral universities with moderate research activity and almost half (45%) in master’s colleges and universities used their own resources as the primary source of financial support.

Doctorate recipients who received research assistantships or traineeships; fellowships, scholarships, or dissertation grants; and teaching assistantships as their primary source of financial support were the most likely to have no graduate debt. Those who used their own resources were the most likely to have graduate debt and most likely to owe more than $60,000 (figure 32). Overall, the analyses reported in this section support the claim that doctorate recipients from institutions that are less likely to provide financial support are more likely to incur graduate debt.

In 2018, doctorate recipients in the fields with the lowest median cumulative debt (physical sciences and earth sciences, engineering, and mathematics and computer sciences) had among the highest median expected annual salaries.^{​Median cumulative debt excludes doctorate recipients with no debt. Median expected annual salary corresponds to debt-holding doctorate recipients who reported definite employment commitments (which excludes postdoctoral study) in the United States.} In these fields, median expected salaries at graduation were more than triple the median cumulative debt. Median debt among those in business management and administration was higher ($42,500) but their median expected salary was nearly triple their median debt as well (figure 37).

In contrast, doctorate recipients in the fields with the highest median cumulative debt (psychology, education, communication, and other non-S&E fields) reported among the lowest median expected annual salaries. In psychology, median cumulative debt was $15,000 higher than median expected salary at graduation. In education, communication, and other non-S&E fields, doctorate recipients’ median expected salary was about the same as their median cumulative debt.