Education doesn’t guarantee a path to a good life, especially for Black people. Still, many strive for the so-called American dream, trying to work their way up in life through education. What they wind up with is massive debt.
African Americans not only face greater financial barriers to getting a college education, but they also wind up with more debt than white graduates and pay more for their loans, according to American Progress. And once they do finish school, Black college graduates tend to face greater job instability and higher unemployment rates.
One Black woman found this all out first hand while striving for the American dream. Black women, who attend college at higher rates, carry a greater proportion of student loan debt. Some studies show that Black women are the most educated bloc of Americans as they are enrolling in college at higher numbers than Black men and “are also starting to outpace other groups in earning degrees, ThoughtCo. reported. Although Black women only make up 12.7 percent of the female population in the country, they consistently make up over 50 percent of the number of Black people who receive postsecondary degrees. Black women outpace white women, Latinas, Asian/Pacific Islanders, and Native Americans in this arena as well, according to ThoughtCo.
Cleveland-based, mother of two Rachel Bevel and her husband, Otis, both pursued high education. Rachel would be the first in her family to earn a college degree, but to do so she would need financial help.
“Money was always an issue for my family, and I recall being aware of our economic status as a child,” she wrote in a guest column for the Huffington Post magazine in August 2020.
Bevel attended the Miami University of Ohio, where the majority of her tuition was covered with scholarships. Still, she needed loans and she graduated in 2012 with $23,025.88 in student loan debt. She majored in English with a dream of working in magazine publishing.
By the time he graduated, Otis, also the first college grad in his family, had accumulated $80,000 in undergraduate debt. Both had trouble landing high-paying jobs after school. But now married and with a baby on the way, Bevel decided to pursue a master’s degree — at a cost of $64,595.44. And after abandoning his goal of being a dentist, Otis decided to get an MBA in health administration. The cost: $101,000.
“Our problem was that we were trying to fit into a life that I don’t believe was designed for us,” wrote in reflection.
The couple was drowning in $268,621.32-student loan debt.
“My husband and I were first-generation college students in our respective families. Choosing to attend a four-year university was not a lighthearted decision for either of us. Our education was the way out of poverty,” explained The Huffington Post.
The couple’s student loan debt continued to grow. “The itch of an old dream reemerged and Otis applied to dental school a final time. On Feb. 27, 2019 he was accepted. The American dream is not cheap, and when he graduates it will cost my family a total of $718,000 in student loan debt,” wrote Bevel. Bevel is the owner of WISH Cleveland, a local Northeast Ohio news source for changemakers, social justice seekers, and idealists. She is a wife and mother who hopes to become a children’s book author.
With America having the highest average tuition cost in the world, obtaining the American dream is an expensive proposition for most, particularly for Black students who start out at a financial disadvantage due to a lack of generational wealth.
The story of Rachel and Otis is not unusual. According to a report by Brookings Institution’s Center on Children and Families, Black borrowers are particularly impacted by the U.S. student loan crisis.
A whopping 86.6 percent of Black students borrow federal loans to attend four-year colleges, compared to 59.9 percent of white students. And, the average Black graduate has $7,400 more in student debt than whites, Business Insider reported.
Student loan debt continues to grow for Black graduates. After four years, Black grads have nearly twice as much in student debt as their white peers at $53,000.
Black students who graduate from a Historically Black College or University have 32 percent more debt than graduates from other public or nonprofit four-year schools, found a Wall Street Journal analysis in 2019 of Education Department data.
For now, student loan payments have been suspended, which is a relief for Black people carrying student loan debt. An erasure of student loan debt would be of the greatest advantage. But while the Biden administration is debating how much student loan debt to cancel per person, Democratic leaders in the House and Senate reintroduced a resolution calling on President Biden to use executive action to cancel $50,000 in student loan debt for every borrower, Forbes reported.
Many on Twitter are pushing for student loan debt forgiveness.
Rep. Ayanna Pressley (Mass.-D) tweeted that the way to “thank” Black female voters for helping the Democrats not only take the White House bt the House and Senate would be to cancel student loan debt.
She Tweeted, “You want to thank Black women? Cancel student debt — all of it. Black women carry more student debt than any other group in America. Save your words of appreciation. Policy is our love language.”
“Why y’all telling us? We know, tell this to the people at the top up there with y’all!,” responded one user.
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There are various pans floating around. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) suggested limiting relief to borrowers earning under $250,000 per year. Biden has argued for an annual income limit of $125,000 as part of his own student loan forgiveness plan. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-MA), meanwhile, proposed a similar income limit.
