The $833 billion burden around the necks of college-educated women
They carry 64 percent of the nation’s student debt
Women now hold nearly two-thirds of the $1.3 trillion in outstanding education loans, according to a report released by the American Association of University Women.
“It’s important to understand all of the challenges facing women in the United States, and in terms of their economic well-being, student debt is a big one,” said Kevin Miller, senior researcher at the AAUW.
Based on data from the Education Department, Miller and his team estimate the following:
- Women enrolled in college borrow about 14 percent more on average than men in a given year.
- Women typically owe $1,500 more than their male counterparts upon completion of a bachelor’s degree.
- African American women take on more student debt on average than any other group of women.
- 64 percent of student debt, or about $833 billion, is held by women. (That number may actually be bit higher because the study only looked at graduates, not women who drop out of college or mothers who take out parent loans to help their children pay for school.)
- It takes the average woman nearly two years longer to repay student loans than their male counterparts, probably because gender wage inequality plays a large role in the disparity in repayment rates. (An earlier study by the association found that women with college degrees earn 26 percent less than men in comparable jobs.)
- The pace of repayment is especially slow for African American and Latino women, who also have among the highest default rates.
- While a third of all women who were repaying student loans reported having trouble covering living expenses within the past year, the same was true for 57 percent of African American women, the study said.
The problem with the 2018 White House budget
Both the purchasing power of Pell and the future of campus child care are under threat in the 2018 White House budget.
- While President Trump supports extending Pell awards for three semesters, instead of two, he wants to leave the maximum award at $5,920 and plans to pull $3.9 billion out of the program’s reserve fund.
- His budget also cuts all funding to a federal program that assists low-income college students with child-care costs, known as the Child Care Access Means Parents in School (CCAMPIS).
Anne Hedgepeth, senior government relations manager at AAUW, said colleges and universities need to play a bigger role in financial literacy and be advocates for greater state and federal investment to reduce the need to borrow.
“Anything that helps ensure that students graduate in a timely fashion is also a way to support students in repayment,” Miller said. “And that means focusing resources on nontraditional students and students who are most likely to leave school because we know that they often have the hardest time repaying student debt.”
Original story by The Washington Post’s Danielle Douglas-Gabriel.
