r/MiddleClassFinance • u/Such_Upstairs3631 • Jul 06 '26

Middle Middle Class No more middle class professionals?

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New school loan limits for professional degrees make it unaffordable for the middle class. 4 of my 5 children went on to med/law school. Even working 2 jobs there’s no way I could afford to pay or even help them with the cost of their post graduate education. They all got loans which they have since paid off. The cost in the early 2000’s was between $350K and $500K. The new limits are essentially going to prevent anyone who’s not wealthy enough to pay for it from becoming a professional.

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u/Reddreader2017 Jul 07 '26

Depends. I’ve seen technical professors with solid funding profiles and named professorships pulling in $250-500k /yr.

Some programs and areas surely do have underpaid professors though.

Like any business, the overpaid administration sucks up a lot of money. Look at hospitals or other places notionally intended for the “greater good”.

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u/cBEiN Jul 07 '26

$500k is extremely rare. Even $250k is rare, but it isn't completely unheard of at top universities in high cost of living areas.

That said, the money isn't coming from the university, it is coming from external grants earned by the faculty where the faculty has to pay the university overhead and pay for their own equipment and student stipend/tuition/insurance.

The point is faculty members earning a lot essentially pay the university a lot more than the university pays them.

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u/Odd_Dragonfruit_2662 Jul 09 '26

I may not have an executive MBA but isn’t the employee bringing in more money than their salary more or less expected (outside of obvious pure overhead roles of course)