What percentage of college students graduate with student loans
The conversation about student debt policy is heating up, and there’s been a recent focus on how student debt adversely impacts Black students. At Trellis Foundation, we care deeply about postsecondary affordability, access, and completion. This post provides a brief context of the research and headlines that have helped shape our thinking on these issues as they relate to Black students. First, we’ll talk about the disproportionate student debt problems that Black students are facing. Then, we’ll discuss some possible explanations for these obstacles. We have also conducted a brief summary of these 10 sources, for your reference.
Significantly fewer Black students graduate without debt.
There’s an alarming relationship between degree attainment and larger amounts of debt for Black students. A study by The American Council on Education (ACE) found that about 30 percent of all 2015–16 bachelor’s degree recipients graduated without debt, but only 14 percent of African-American graduates could say the same. The average debt of Black graduates is around $34,000, which is higher than any other racial or ethnic group 1 .
Additionally, only 19 percent of African-American master’s degree recipients completed their degrees without borrowing, with 16 percent borrowing $75,000 or morepare that statistic to the 43 percent of white master’s degree recipients who avoided borrowing altogether, with only 7 percent borrowing $75,000 or more 2 . And after graduation, the Black-white disparity in loan debt triples 3 , according to research by Judith Scott Clayton and Jing Li.
Disproportionate enrollment in for-profit institutions
Researchers point out that student debt inequality may be due to Black students disproportionately enrolling in for-profit institutions 9 . (mais…)
