{"id":8804,"date":"2023-06-29T14:41:10","date_gmt":"2023-06-29T14:41:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/?p=8804"},"modified":"2023-06-29T14:41:10","modified_gmt":"2023-06-29T14:41:10","slug":"most-black-people-live-in-states-with-the-highest-student-debt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/2023\/06\/29\/most-black-people-live-in-states-with-the-highest-student-debt\/","title":{"rendered":"Most Black People Live in States with the Highest Student Debt"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mix the racial wealth gap with high costs of living and the burden of student loan debt feels heavier for Black people in some parts of the U.S.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

By Bria Overs<\/strong>
\nWord In Black Press<\/strong><\/p>\n

From coast to coast, Americans are closely watching and dreading the upcoming end to the federal student loan payment pause. Borrowers in some states, however, have more debt than others.<\/p>\n

For Black people, the lasting effects of their debt depend on where they live which is often in those same states with higher debts owed per borrower.<\/p>\n

The research, conducted by CreditDonkey, compared all 50 states using recent student debt data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York\u00a0to discover which states had the highest proportion of student debt per borrower.\u00a0Credit:\u00a0CreditDonkey<\/p>\n

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A new\u00a0CreditDonkey<\/a>\u00a0analysis comparing all 50 U.S. states found the top 10 with the highest student debt per borrower. Those top states, in order, are Maryland, Georgia, Delaware, Virginia, New York, Florida, Oregon, Illinois, California, and Alabama.<\/p>\n

Data from\u00a0Pew Research Center<\/a>\u00a0adds another layer to this picture. At least eight of these states rank highly among those with the largest Black populations. Combined with the reality that Black students hold more student loan debt than any other racial or ethnic group,\u00a0with a median of $30,000 owed<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Saddled with such a large amount of debt, many attempt to find their footing in places with higher costs of living.<\/p>\n

For example, over three million Black people call the New York City metro area home \u2014 the nation\u2019s largest Black population.\u00a0Fortuna Admissions<\/a>\u00a0co-founder Caroline Diarte Edwards says places like this are hubs for career opportunities.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe big cities offer unmatched career opportunities, leading many Black Americans to take risks and move to them despite the high student loan debt and cost of living,\u201d Edwards says.<\/p>\n

Indeed, paying rent on a market-rate apartment in a major city, on top of hefty student loan payments, is a sobering prospect.<\/p>\n

\u201cHigh housing costs directly contribute to high levels of student loan debt. Inexpensive and safe housing is very difficult to find in the most expensive cities, leading many students to take out costly loans to cover their high living costs. This exacerbates the existing financial inequality between Black and white communities and prevents Black students from building stability and upward mobility.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

CAROLINE DIARTE EDWARDS, CO-FOUNDER OF FORTUNA ADMISSIONS<\/p>\n

The analysis revealed that Maryland \u2014 which is 29.5 percent Black \u2014 has the highest average loan debt per borrower at $42,543, with 864,000 total borrowers. Georgia \u2014 31 percent Black \u2014\u00a0is in a close second with $41,826 per borrower and 1.6 million total borrowers.<\/p>\n

For those who borrow, this debt creeps into other aspects of their lives. But, it uniquely impacts Black people and communities \u2014 especially in the long term.<\/p>\n

One of those long-term effects is the inability to become a homeowner. Homeownership is a gateway to generational wealth.<\/p>\n

\u201cHomeownership is more difficult to realize for student loan borrowers,\u201d Jennifer Ledwith, a Certified Financial Planner and the founder of\u00a0Scholar Ready<\/a>, tells Word In Black. Scholar Ready helps high school students prepare for the ACT and SAT exams, and assists with college admission and scholarship essays.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen potential homebuyers seek mortgages, lenders consider the borrower\u2019s debt-to-income ratio. The greater the amount of student loan debt, the higher the debt-to-income ratio, and the less that people can borrow.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

JENNIFER LEDWITH, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER AND FOUNDER OF\u00a0SCHOLAR READY<\/a><\/p>\n

Student loan payments can be a large chunk of borrowers\u2019 budgets, making it difficult to save for a downpayment and other life experiences.<\/p>\n

Ledwith says student debt also affects Black families\u2019 ability to invest academically in their children\u2019s education and communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cStudent loan expenses prevent African American parents from having the discretionary income required to supplement their children\u2019s education,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Full participation in the cultural and civic life of a community is tougher too, with student loan debt. Ledwith says that\u2019s because if money is going to student loan servicers, they have less for community organizations like schools, museums, hospitals, art organizations, and churches.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor African-Americans\u2019 voices to be heard, they must participate,\u201d Ledwith says. \u201cOften, participation requires a financial commitment that student loan payments make impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mix the racial wealth gap with high costs of living and the burden of student loan debt feels heavier for Black people in some parts of the U.S. By Bria Overs Word In Black Press From coast to coast, Americans are closely watching and dreading the upcoming end to the federal student loan payment pause. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,7],"tags":[],"wf_post_folders":[181],"class_list":["post-8804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-economy","category-education"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8804"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8804\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8806,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8804\/revisions\/8806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8804"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=8804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}