Master’s, doctoral, and first-professional students differ in their enrollment patterns and in the types and amounts of financial aid they receive to help pay for their education.

In 2003–04, the average total price (tuition and fees, books and materials, and living expenses) for 1 year of full-time graduate education ranged from $21,900 for a master’s degree program at a public institution to $41,900 for a first-professional degree program at a private not-for-profit institution.¹ Students attending full time typically received some type of financial aid to help cover their expenses—81 percent at the master’s level and over 90 percent at the doctoral and first-professional levels (see table 48-2). Grants and assistantships (which require work) are usually awarded on a discretionary basis and not related to financial need. Students must demonstrate financial need to obtain Perkins or subsidized Stafford loans, but not to take out unsubsidized Stafford or private loans. Graduate students sometimes receive tuition assistance from their employers (considered grant aid). This was especially true for part-time students in master of business administration programs, 49 percent of whom received this type of aid (see table 48-3).

Compared with students at other levels, relatively few master’s students (about 20 percent at each institution type) enrolled full time. Among those who did, the average net access price (total price minus all financial aid) was $9,700 at public institutions and $16,400 at private not-for-profit ones. Compared with their peers at private not-for-profit institutions, on average, full-time master’s students at public institutions received more in assistantships and other aid² and borrowed less.

Full-time doctoral students had an average net access price of $6,800 at public institutions and $13,900 at private not-for-profit institutions. Although full-time doctoral students in both sectors faced a higher average total price than their counterparts at the master’s level, they received larger average amounts in grants and assistantships and other aid and did not borrow more.

No measurable differences were found in the net access price paid by full-time first-professional and doctoral students in either sector. However, first-professional students relied more heavily on loans to pay for their education, averaging $20,500 at public institutions and $25,700 at private not-for-profit institutions, compared with $5,700 and $10,300, respectively, for doctoral students.

¹Of all graduate/first-professional students, 60 percent were enrolled in master’s degree programs, 14 percent in doctoral degree programs, 12 percent in first-professional programs, and 14 percent in postbaccalaureate certificate programs or in graduate courses (NCES 2006-185). First-professional programs include chiropractic, osteopathic medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, law, podiatry, medicine, theology, optometry, and veterinary medicine. (back to text)

²The category assistantships and other aid consists primarily of assistantships but also includes a small amount of other types of aid such as work study, state vocational rehabilitation and job training grants, federal veterans benefits, and military tuition aid. (back to text)