House/Senate are set to eliminate Grad PLUS, and put in place loan limits that would dramatically restrict graduate borrowing. Media coverage emphasizes impact on very expensive programs like Medicine and Dentistry, but @peerresearch finds the impact will be much(!) broader. 1/.

This morning, PEER's @ClareMcCann provided comments to @usedgov on its upcoming rulemaking to implement reconciliation, pointing to this PEER Center report in arguing for strong gainful employment and transparency rules to complement the law:

The recent reconciliation law requires short-term programs to pass a tuition-to-earnings test -- tuition charged must not exceed graduates' typical earnings, less 150 percent of the poverty level. @PEERResearch wrote about how that metric might work.

.@PEERResearch looked at the new income-driven repayment plan (RAP) in the reconciliation law, set to come online soon. Higher payments on the plan for the lowest-income borrowers will increase hardship among those living in poverty and increase defaults.

.@usedgov is planning #negreg rulemaking on #highered. Check out @PEERResearch analysis of which programs fall short of the new reconciliation law's accountability standards: For researchers looking to get involved in the process, reach out to PEER!

PEER's @jdmatsudaira spoke with @CalMatters about how recent changes to graduate #highered loan limits could affect California medical school students, who often borrow more (across medical school and annually) than the new limits will allow.

.@jdmatsudaira spoke with @mzinshteyn @CalMatters about lawmakers' recent changes to med-school loan limits, noting the changes will "make it less likely for some of those students to be able to pursue graduate degrees than they are now."

The new #highered reconciliation law will extend Pell Grants to short-term programs -- just 8-15 weeks. The guardrails (minimum standards for job placement, completion rates, earnings) won't do enough to protect against low-quality programs. @srcellini

Every Tuesday AM, @claremccann @peerresearch shares our weekly "What We're Tracking" newsletter -- chock-full of state and federal #highered news, policy, and analysis. Sign up today and you'll be in the know tomorrow!

Congress just passed a reconciliation package that codifies a new standard for #highered programs -- check out our latest report from @claremccann @tiacecaldwell @jdmatsudaira to learn more about which programs fall short, and what the policy leaves out.

Elements of #highered reconciliation changes fare slated to take effect soon -- and @peerresearch is here to help you see what's coming. Visit /follow us to see what changes to repayment, grad loan limits, accountability, short-term Pell will mean.

PEER PRESS - The reduction in force order at @usedgov will create growing issues, with real consequences for #highered transparency. @jdmatsudaira expects the quality of Education Department data will suffer without the usual people and processes:

Want to stay up to date on #highered news and our research? Subscribe to our newsletters here:

Adjusting for inflation, allowing $0 payments for the lowest-income borrowers, and providing earlier forgiveness. These are just a few of our suggestions for changes to the Repayment Assistance Plan proposed by the House and Senate. Read more here:

PEER PRESS - @jdmatsudaira & @tiacecaldwell found in an analysis for @marketwatch that at least $4.3 billion/year in graduate borrowing today falls above the @EdWorkforceCmte #reconciliation proposal's annual limits. Private lenders may step in. Read here:

As Congress wraps up reconciliation, colleges will have to start to grapple with these changes – slated to take effect one year from now. @PeerResearch will be out in the coming weeks with more analysis, and some options that work better for borrowers & taxpayers. END/.

Last, for completeness, the 11 doctoral fields that round out the top 50. Again -- big financing gaps [and reclassification as professional programs] are going to be the norm for many students across many fields. 11/

One caveat -- it’s not obvious that these master’s programs won’t end up being treated like professional programs ($50k annual limit). Senate bill points to the reg definition (34 CFR 668.2) of ‘professional degree’. If Theology counts as a professional degree, what won’t?! 10/

Take MSW programs, where median borrowing across all programs is right at the $41k proposed limit. Even here, massive changes will be needed in how people pay for graduate school. Will private lenders make loans of $50-100k to finance this training? Will colleges lower prices? 9/

Even MA programs will be affected. Look at the 30 biggest MA programs by loan volume. In most more than half of grads will need private loans to get through! And in all of them, a meaningful share (upwards of 20%) currently borrow more from the feds than proposed limits allow. 8/

You might think within fields, limits will affect only expensive private colleges. Nope. While some for-profit Caribbean schools top the list of affected programs for MDs, even at programs at many public colleges majority of grads will need private loans to finance training. 7/