The rising costs of education happen to impact African Americans far more than their white counterparts, especially when it comes to debt.
Most minorities have to depend on financial aid in order to properly pay for their schooling.
Financial aid is any grant, scholarship, loan, or paid employment offered to help a student meet his/her college expenses. Aid like such, is usually provided by various sources such as federal and state agencies, colleges, high schools, foundations, and corporations.
Four years after graduating college, the majority of black students owe nearly twice as much in student debts and are more likely to default on the loans than white students according to a newspaper article by Brookings Institution.
The analysis done by the institution later found that the past decade’s dramatic rise in student debt affects black students more than any other racial group and could heighten wealth inequality.
This is not only due to the major setbacks in society that blacks have had to endure, but the unfair treatments and access to wealth enriching resources.
Blacks are the only group in America that have not had the opportunity to accumulate any sort of wealth in order to thrive in society. The Department of Education and the Census Bureau, examined two groups: 1993 and 2008 college grads. Not surprisingly, the amount of debt owed four years after graduation was much larger for the class of 2008 than for 1993. The largest increase occurred among blacks.
In 2012, black grads owed an average of 52,726 dollars in student debt. Whites owed almost half of that 28,000 dollars. Asians owed 26,253 dollars and Hispanics fall directly in the middle portion of 29,949 dollars.
More than 7 percent of black 2008 grads deferred on their loans within four years of their graduation date. Only 2 percent of white grads and 1 precent of Asian grads defaulted in that time period, while almost 6% of Hispanic grads did.
“The researchers attribute the disparity in debt between blacks and whites to several factors” reported by the Wall Street Journal. African American students tend to owe more starting out in college because white families typically have more accumulated wealth and savings while blacks have less. By the end of graduation blacks owe 23,400 dollars in student loans versus the 16,000 dollars owed by white peers.
Another factor that plays a part in the varying debt amounts is the fact that black grads are also more likely than whites to attend grad school within four years of earning their undergraduate degrees, and to do so, they must, again, borrow more money. Almost half of 2008 black grads entered grad school within four years, compared to 38 percent of whites.
The pursuit of higher education may have made larger gaps in financial well-being rather than slimming them down. It is apparent that the American experience for colored people still remains a struggle to survive as African Americans are constantly plagued by inequalities and injustices like police terror and financial instability.
This has made the American experience for some drastically different when it comes down to individuals with contrasting racial backgrounds.
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Debt: Black Vs. White
November 29, 2016
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