Publications and Research
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-3-2017
Abstract
College student debt, now topping one trillion
dollars, is one of the most severe issues affecting
higher education. But if that amount (higher than
Americans’ combined credit card debt) sounds scandalous,
the problem is compounded by the fact that
it is affecting disproportionally people of color.
In a report published by the Brookings Institute
last October titled “Black-white disparity in student
loan debt more than triples after graduation,” its
authors found that by the moment they earn their bachelor’s
degrees, black college graduates owe $7,400
more on average than their white peers. And the
problem becomes even more acute over time.
According to this same report, the black/white
debt gap eventually more than triples to a whopping
$25,000. This leads black graduates holding
nearly $53,000 in student loan debt four years after
graduation, almost twice as much as their white
counterparts.
Comments
This work was originally published in The Edwardsville Intelligencer.