Income-based repayment grows black borrowers’ total debt through accumulating interest.

Evidence

Income-based repayment, which black college graduates use nearly twice as much as their white counterparts, also plays a role. Income-based repayment reduces the amount borrowers are legally obligated to pay, based on their income. But, as with graduate school deferrals, the unpaid balance accumulates interest and increases the overall outstanding debt. Both of these programs were created with the best of intentions, but both are leading to ever-increasing black student debt. — Dorothy A. Brown, The Whiteness of Wealth, 310

Categorization

• DEFINE: Explains how income-based repayment works mechanically before showing its racial consequence.