By Cate Chapman, Editor at LinkedIn News — The income of Americans with advanced degrees hasn’t kept pace with the price of obtaining the credentials. The difference between starting salaries for those with undergraduate and graduate degrees shrank to 22.5% in 2021 from 31.8% in 2017, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers. That’s as the average price of tuition and fees for the more advanced degrees grew faster. The trend of employers paying less of a premium for graduate education reflects a shift toward a more skills-based appraisal of job candidates, writes Bloomberg. Graduate students accrue an average $57,000 in debt for the cost of their degrees, compared to $27,000 for undergraduates — for a medical or law school degree, debt averages $176,000.