As of 2020, there is a total of $1.7 trillion in student debt in the United States (Abraham, 2020). This total has never been evenly distributed. In 2018, not long ago, the American Association of University Women released a report that demonstrated that women held 2/3rds of the student debt in this country (Abraham, 2018). The inequality does not only become evident when comparing genders, it becomes much worse when one takes both race and gender into account:
Average student debt held after completing a bachelor’s program:
Debt held by a White man: $18,934
Debt held by a White woman: $20,210
Debt held by a Black man: $25,366
Debt held by a Black woman: $29,051
These numbers suggest that an average Black woman graduates with $10,000 more in student loan debt than an average White man (Abraham, 2018).
Source: (Abraham, 2018).
Although there are several possible causes for why Black women hold the most student loan debt, I believe that the greatest cause is the wealth inequality that is still present to this day, because, if Black parents wish to pay their respective children’s tuition and/or student loan debt, how could they do so if they have little wealth?
The median wealth amounts in 2015:
White Men: $28,900
Black Men: $300
All Men: $10,150
White Women: $15,640 (about 54 cents on the dollar compared to White men)
Black Women: $200 (less than one cent per dollar compared to White men & only a little more than one cent per dollar compared to White women)
All Women: $3,210 (about 32 cents on the dollar compared to all men)
Source: (Abraham, 2018).
Tragically, it seems that Black parents could have a higher probability of being able to help their children to a greater extent if they were White; and single mothers could have a higher probability of being able to help their children if they were single fathers instead.
To give another example of wealth inequality: in Boston, during the year of 2015, Black households, on average, owned about $8 of wealth, while White households, on average, owned about $247,500 of wealth (Abraham, 2018).
Outside of Boston, the numbers still look grim: “Nationwide, Black families own about $5 of wealth for every $100 White families own” (Abraham, 2018). While White women make less money and have less wealth, Black women make much less money and have much less wealth (Abraham, 2018). Thus, the child of a Black parent (or parents), having little help available from his or her household, sees the obtainment of large amounts of student loans as the main option that can permit him or her to complete a college education.
Unfortunately, there is a popular assumption that claims that if a student obtains a job (or jobs) during his or her college years, he or she will have no, or little, student loan debt. However, that assumption does not take gender inequality into account: Men gain more money when working during their college years than women (Abraham, 2018).
There is another assumption that claims: after a student obtains student loans, he or she will be able to pay off all of the student loan debt in a timely manner once graduating. However, that can only be if there are jobs available that provide enough pay to cover the payments of the student loan debt, which, oftentimes are very limited in number and mostly go to men. Thus, men also gain more money after graduating from college compared to women (Abraham, 2018). Therefore, if women gain less money than men during and after college, it makes a lot of sense that, compared to men, women need a longer time to pay off their student loans (Abraham, 2018).
In conclusion, there are many solutions that can be applied to lessen the negative effects present in our society. However, to cover several of those solutions, one would have to create more essays on this topic. Nonetheless, I would like to repeat a solution that I have read, and which I have been convinced to believe that it can bring more equality for everyone: “Forgive all student debt on a universal basis.”
References:
Abraham, Sparky. (Jun 26, 2018). How Student Debt Is Worsening Gender and Racial Injustice: Women and people of color have less wealth yet pay more to go to college… Retrieved from https://www.currentaffairs.org/2018/06/how-student-debt-is-worsening-gender-and-racial-injustice
Abraham, Sparky. (Nov 19, 2020). If You Want to Enact Free College, Cancel Student Debt Immediately: Financial Editor Sparky Abraham on why there are truly no good reasons not to cancel student debt. Retrieved from https://www.currentaffairs.org/2020/11/if-you-want-to-enact-free-college-cancel-student-debt-immediately