Graduate students are going to take a big financial hit because of the debt deal, according to Michael Scherer's debt debate breakdown at Time.

They currently aren't charged any interest on student loans until 6 months after graduation, but the debt deal cuts that federal subsidy. The costs for grad students will increase by more than $18 billion over the next decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The change will take effect on loans made after July 1, 2012.

Students in degree programs that take lengthy periods to complete (such as medicine, law and any doctoral programs) will be hardest hit. Since most MBA programs are 24 months or less, the blow is lessened for b-schoolers.

Meanwhile, undergrads luck out. The Pell Grant program managed to avoid the guillotine and will survive for at least the next two years, and the CBO estimates undergraduate student savings at upwards of $21 billion over the next decade.