Black graduates carry more student debt that worsens even among wealthy families

Evidence

Research shows that the average black college graduate carries 7,400 more student loan debt than their average white classmate, and that number only increases over time. Four years after graduation, black Americans owe an average of 52,726 in student debt compared with $28,006 for white college graduates. And the gap exists across income levels—a University of Wisconsin study showed that while in general, the children of richer parents borrow less money for college, “as black parental wealth increases, we do not see black student loan debt decreasing.” — Dorothy A. Brown, The Whiteness of Wealth, 256

Categorization

• QUESTION: The striking finding that black student debt does not fall as parental wealth rises invites investigation into whether similar wealth-blindness appears in tax-code effects.
• SHARE: The Wisconsin study result — black student debt flat across parental wealth — is exactly the kind of mechanism fact that would land with someone working on inequality research.