Most exposed to the Grad PLUS cutoff – doctoral research universities

These 50 doctoral research universities rank highest by the share of graduate loan dollars that came from Grad PLUS, drawn from 425 institutions with reported data in the FSA Direct Loan Dashboard (primarily award year 2025-26 year-to-date through Q2, with 2024-25 full year retained where not yet reported). Pepperdine University (Malibu, CA) leads at 67.8%.

Institutions ranked by Grad PLUS exposure.
#	Institution	Grad PLUS exposure
1	Pepperdine UniversityCA · Private	67.8%
2	Northwestern UniversityIL · Private	66.7%
3	Georgetown UniversityDC · Private	65.2%
4	Stanford UniversityCA · Private	65%
5	Loyola Marymount UniversityCA · Private	64.4%
6	New York UniversityNY · Private	64.3%
7	University of MiamiFL · Private	64.2%
8	Chapman UniversityCA · Private	63.1%
9	University of the PacificCA · Private	62.8%
10	Columbia University in the City of New YorkNY · Private	62.5%
11	University of ChicagoIL · Private	61.9%
12	Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyMA · Private	61.8%
13	Santa Clara UniversityCA · Private	61.3%
14	Vanderbilt UniversityTN · Private	60.7%
15	University of Southern CaliforniaCA · Private	60.7%
16	Loyola University New OrleansLA · Private	60.6%
17	University of PennsylvaniaPA · Private	60.5%
18	University of California-BerkeleyCA · Public	60.4%
19	University of California-Los AngelesCA · Public	60.3%
20	Rice UniversityTX · Private	60.2%
21	Tufts UniversityMA · Private	60.1%
22	Howard UniversityDC · Private	59.4%
23	Duke UniversityNC · Private	58.6%
24	Seattle UniversityWA · Private	58.6%
25	Nova Southeastern UniversityFL · Private	58.2%
26	Suffolk UniversityMA · Private	57.9%
27	Fordham UniversityNY · Private	57.8%
28	University of Notre DameIN · Private	57.4%
29	University of San FranciscoCA · Private	57.3%
30	Carnegie Mellon UniversityPA · Private	57.2%
31	Yale UniversityCT · Private	56.7%
32	Cornell UniversityNY · Private	55.8%
33	Duquesne UniversityPA · Private	55.3%
34	Boston UniversityMA · Private	54.9%
35	American UniversityDC · Private	54.8%
36	Touro UniversityNY · Private	54.4%
37	University of Detroit MercyMI · Private	54.3%
38	University of San DiegoCA · Private	54%
39	University of Virginia-Main CampusVA · Public	53.8%
40	University of CharlestonWV · Private	53.6%
41	Campbell UniversityNC · Private	53.6%
42	Union UniversityTN · Private	53.5%
43	Lincoln Memorial UniversityTN · Private	53.3%
44	Emory UniversityGA · Private	53.1%
45	Long Island UniversityNY · Private	52.7%
46	University of OregonOR · Public	52.6%
47	Pacific UniversityOR · Private	52.5%
48	University of DenverCO · Private	52.3%
49	Hofstra UniversityNY · Private	52.2%
50	University of the Incarnate WordTX · Private	52.1%

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. A data ranking, not an Ibex endorsement or quality rating. Ranked solely on the metric named above using the FSA Direct Loan Dashboard, primarily award year 2025-26 (year-to-date through Q2), the most current federal data, with 2024-25 full-year figures retained where 2025-26 is not yet reported. Institutions that do not report this metric are excluded. Figures and peer context appear on each institution’s profile.

Benchmark any school against its true peers

Open the dashboard to filter by sector, Carnegie class, size, and state, or compare schools head-to-head.

Browse & filter Book a 20-minute call

Frequently asked

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

Pepperdine University (Malibu, CA), at 67.8%. It leads 50 institutions shown here, drawn from 425 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 YTD. 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 collection on disk, using the most recent figure each of them publishes for the metric it ranks: FSA Direct Loan Dashboard, AY2025-26 YTD. 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.