Snapshot · Planet Money
The Grad PLUS Loan program, which allowed unlimited federal borrowing for graduate tuition and living expenses, was enacted exactly 20 years ago — creating the natural experiment to test the Bennett Hypothesis.
Where this was said
At 12:36 · chapter starts 9:05
With the policy focus established, Cory Turner zooms in on why the caps target graduate school specifically. The distinction between sticker price and net price is crucial [1] — Kenny Malone "$1.7 trillion federal student loan portfolio: The total federal student loan debt in the United States, a figure that includes a disproport…" 00:19 : for undergrads, generous financial aid packages keep actual costs relatively contained. But graduate school is a different beast — less financial aid, higher costs, and a much larger share of that $1.7 trillion federal loan portfolio than most people realize. Turner explains that federal caps on grad borrowing actually existed in the late 1960s before being removed entirely in 2006. Today's policy is restoring caps — but at levels that don't account for 20 years of inflation, making them in some ways more restrictive than before.
In his 1987 op-ed, Secretary Bennett cited tuition increases of 6% to 8% — far outstripping inflation — as evidence that federal aid was enabling colleges to raise prices freely.
For 20 years, the Bennett Hypothesis was untestable. Then in 2006, Congress created the Grad PLUS Loan program, giving graduate students access to unlimited federal borrowing. That policy created the natural experiment economists needed to determine whether easy money actually inflates tuition.
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