Will Changes to the Student Loan System Worsen Physician Shortages?

bluebayou
Fri, 27 Jun 2025 00:29:57 +0000

That’s a great start, now we need to compare to data from before 2006, before GradPlus loans were created up to the COA. Before then, federal loans were capped at $18.5k per year (about $31k in today’s dollars).

WayOutWestMom:

US medical grads aren’t flocking into primary care specialties.

Are you suggesting then, that PSLF loan forgiveness is not working? (And it probably could not, as everyone going into the top paying specialties are also eligible for loan forgiveness, and may even get more forgiveness as they tend to have longer low-paying residencies.)

fwiw: here is the match results from a DO school that I picked out randomly (only as I knew its name): 56% of grads went into Primary care, many of them are rural hospitals.

westernu.edu

2024-match.pdf

329.62 KB

Forbes

Study: Unlimited Federal Loans For Graduate School Drive Up Tuition

Research shows that federal loans increase tuition for graduate programs, but don't expand enrollment.

“Access to graduate education was unchanged. Programs more affected by graduate loan expansion did not see significant increases in enrollment relative to the reference group. Nor did Grad PLUS improve access to graduate education for underrepresented groups; if anything, the share of white students in affected programs increased. Similarly, the researchers find no significant effects of Grad PLUS on degree completion or long-run earnings outcomes.
…
The main presumed benefit of Grad PLUS—increased access to graduate education—may also be a fiction. The researchers find no significant impact of Grad PLUS on enrollment, which suggests that the limited federal graduate loan program that existed in 2006, combined with a robust private market, adequately met demand for graduate education finance. Private lenders were glad to lend to students enrolled in high-return graduate programs; most students even enjoyed lower interest rates in the private market than Grad PLUS offered.”