Most exposed to the Grad PLUS cutoff – doctoral universities

These 50 doctoral universities rank highest by the share of graduate loan dollars that came from Grad PLUS, drawn from 478 institutions with reported data in the FSA Direct Loan Dashboard (award year 2025-26, full year). Creighton University (Omaha, NE) leads at 70.4%.

Institutions ranked by Grad PLUS exposure.
#	Institution	Grad PLUS exposure
1	Creighton UniversityNE · Private	70.4%
2	Willamette UniversityOR · Private	68.5%
3	New York UniversityNY · Private	67.5%
4	Pepperdine UniversityCA · Private	66.8%
5	Northwestern UniversityIL · Private	66.7%
6	University of MiamiFL · Private	66.2%
7	High Point UniversityNC · Private	66%
8	Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyMA · Private	65.8%
9	Georgetown UniversityDC · Private	65.7%
10	Loyola Marymount UniversityCA · Private	64.6%
11	Vanderbilt UniversityTN · Private	64.6%
12	University of New EnglandME · Private	64.4%
13	Stanford UniversityCA · Private	64.1%
14	Columbia University in the City of New YorkNY · Private	64%
15	Methodist UniversityNC · Private	63.4%
16	University of PennsylvaniaPA · Private	63%
17	Chapman UniversityCA · Private	62.7%
18	University of the PacificCA · Private	62.3%
19	University of ChicagoIL · Private	61.5%
20	Touro UniversityNY · Private	60.7%
21	University of Southern CaliforniaCA · Private	60.7%
22	Elon UniversityNC · Private	60.5%
23	Santa Clara UniversityCA · Private	60.5%
24	Duke UniversityNC · Private	60.2%
25	University of San FranciscoCA · Private	60.2%
26	Loyola University New OrleansLA · Private	60.1%
27	Pacific UniversityOR · Private	59.9%
28	University of California-BerkeleyCA · Public	59.8%
29	Howard UniversityDC · Private	59.5%
30	Emory UniversityGA · Private	59.5%
31	Rice UniversityTX · Private	59.4%
32	Fordham UniversityNY · Private	59.3%
33	University of California-Los AngelesCA · Public	59.3%
34	Tufts UniversityMA · Private	59.1%
35	Case Western Reserve UniversityOH · Private	58.9%
36	Lewis & Clark CollegeOR · Private	58.8%
37	Nova Southeastern UniversityFL · Private	58.5%
38	Cornell UniversityNY · Private	58.1%
39	Yeshiva UniversityNY · Private	58.1%
40	University of Detroit MercyMI · Private	57.5%
41	Stetson UniversityFL · Private	57.3%
42	Suffolk UniversityMA · Private	56.9%
43	Seattle UniversityWA · Private	56.4%
44	Yale UniversityCT · Private	56.4%
45	University of PikevilleKY · Private	56.3%
46	Carnegie Mellon UniversityPA · Private	56.3%
47	University of Notre DameIN · Private	56.2%
48	Campbell UniversityNC · Private	56%
49	Arcadia UniversityPA · Private	56%
50	University of Virginia-Main CampusVA · Public	55.4%

Grad PLUS exposure is the share of an institution’s graduate federal loan dollars drawn from the Grad PLUS program, which the 2025 budget law eliminates for new borrowers from July 2026 (FSA Direct Loan data). A higher share means more graduate borrowing that disappears above the new caps, a measure of policy exposure, not a quality or risk rating of the school. Limited to institutions with at least 1,000 undergraduates, so a handful of students cannot top the list. A data ranking, not an Ibex endorsement or quality rating. Ranked solely on the metric named above using the FSA Direct Loan Dashboard for award year 2025-26, the latest complete year Federal Student Aid has published. Institutions that do not report this metric are excluded. Figures and peer context appear on each institution’s profile.

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Frequently asked

Which of these doctoral universities ranks highest by the share of graduate loan dollars that came from Grad PLUS?

Creighton University (Omaha, NE), at 70.4%. It leads 50 institutions shown here, drawn from 478 with reported data.

How is this ranking calculated?

On one disclosed metric only: by the share of graduate loan dollars that came from Grad PLUS, from FSA Direct Loan Dashboard, AY2025-26. Institutions that do not report the metric are excluded. It is a data ranking, not an Ibex endorsement, quality rating or reputation survey, and no part of it is estimated or AI-generated.

How current is the data?

This list is built from the College Scorecard release of June 10, 2026 and the newest IPEDS collections the tool uses, taking the most recent figure published for the metric it ranks: FSA Direct Loan Dashboard, AY2025-26. Federal collections lag the current academic year by two to three years, so the newest published figure is not always a recent one. The release the leaderboard is dated on is printed under it.

Source: U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard & IPEDS (each measure carries its own collection year; see the methodology), with NSF NCSES (HERD), the Clery Act & EADA collections, Census ACS, BLS Employment Projections, WICHE & the FSA Direct Loan Dashboard. Compiled by Ibex Insights. For informational benchmarking only, not financial, investment, or accreditation advice. See the methodology.