Graduate Students Receiving Grant Aid

Overall, graduate students—when compared with undergraduates—received less grant aid and covered more expenses through earnings and loans. In 2019–20, 44.7 percent of all graduate students received some grant aid. More than half of research doctoral students received grant aid (51.5 percent), followed by professional and other doctoral students (46.1 percent) and master’s students (43.0 percent). Patterns of grant receipt across racial and ethnic groups varied by program type.

Share of Graduate Students Who Received Grant Aid, by Degree Program and Race and Ethnicity: 2019-20

Report Links

Race and Ethnicity in Higher Education: 2024 Status Report
Chapter Seven: How Students Finance Graduate Education

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Source

U.S. Department of Education, National Postsecondary Student Aid Study, 2020

Note:
Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.

Data for for the following should be interpreted with caution. Ratio of standard error to estimate is >30 percent but <50 percent.

  • American Indian or Alaska Native, Master’s Degree Programs

  • Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, Master’s Degree Programs

Reporting standards not met:

  • American Indian or Alaska Native, Professional and Other Doctoral Degree Programs

  • American Indian or Alaska Native, Research Doctoral Degree Programs

  • Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, Professional and Other Doctoral Degree Programs

  • Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, Research Doctoral Degree Programs