Racial disparities and student debt: A “two worlds issue”
Eaton, whose upcoming book “Bankers in the Ivory Tower” explores the influence of financiers in higher education, said, “I think it’s fair to ask the question, do we really want the secretary of education to be effectively the CEO of the largest consumer bank in America?”
Wherry also stressed the disproportionate ways the student loan system burdens Black communities in particular, calling it a “two worlds issue.”
According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and 2011-12 data from the U.S. Department of Education, over 90% of Black undergraduate students leave college with student debt, compared to 66% of White students.
“Having grown up in South Carolina, the one thing that I would hear over and over again as a young Black kid was, ‘Get your education. It’s the one thing they can’t take from you.’ So you were supposed to do whatever it took, and the family was willing to do whatever it would take in order for you to get your education, which required debt,” Wherry said. (mais…)