As hard as it is for Black students to earn advanced degrees in science, technology, engineering and medicine (STEM) fields, a final insult accompanies the diploma. They leave school dragging a ball and chain of debt far heavier than that for most White graduates.
The latest evidence of this comes in a report last week by the Research Triangle Institute and the Sloan Foundation. It found that 49 percent of Black PhD graduates in STEM fields leave school with more than $50,000 in debt. That is more than triple the 15 percent of White PhD recipients who graduate with the same level of debt.
Meanwhile, 68 percent of White PhD graduates finish school with no debt at all, a luxury enjoyed only by 28 percent of Black counterparts.
Even more stark is the difference in federal loans borrowed for graduate education.
Among White PhD recipients, 79 percent took out no…
Read the full article originally published at blog.ucsusa.org.