The Student Freedom Initiative: A New Income Share Agreement for HBCUs
by Shannon Vasconcelos, former financial aid officer at Tufts University
- The net worth of the median Black family is one-tenth that of the typical white family. (Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System)
- Black Americans are paid less than white Americans at every education level, with Black college graduates earning $26/hour compared to $31/hour average wages for white graduates. (Economic Policy Institute)
- Black college graduates, on average, borrow $7,400 more each in student loans than their white counterparts. Four years later, the remaining debt of Black grads is double that of whites. (Brookings Institution)
- Over one-third of Black Parent PLUS Loan borrowers have household incomes less than $30,000/year (compared to 12% of white borrowers). (New America)
- Black student loan borrowers default on their loans at 2.5 times the rate of white borrowers. (Center for American Progress)
