June 27, 2012

Federal-Loan Changes May Curb Graduate Study

End to federal subsidy is likely to increase students' debt burden

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Pouya Dianat for The Chronicle

At the U. of Georgia, Andrew Belasco (left) and Michael Trivette worry that the federal-loan subsidy cut will hamper efforts to complete their degrees.

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Pouya Dianat for The Chronicle

At the U. of Georgia, Andrew Belasco (left) and Michael Trivette worry that the federal-loan subsidy cut will hamper efforts to complete their degrees.

By Stacey Patton

As the nation's student-loan debt surpasses the $1-trillion mark, alarming students, parents, and politicians, few are thinking about the effects it is having on people like Michael J. Trivette, a 28-year-old graduate student in higher education at the University of Georgia.

He has taken out $8,000 in loans for his Ph.D. program in higher education even as he works diligently to finish paying off his undergraduate debt. The debt that Mr. Trivette and other graduate students like him