Nearly three in 10 college students in America are solely responsible for paying for all of their higher education costs, and that number is highest by far among Native American, Black and Hispanic/Latino college students, according to a study by LendEDU.
“Are you responsible for paying for college?” was the question posed to current undergraduate students at more than 200 colleges and universities in all 50 states.
Using College Pulse data that included more than 13,500 responses, Mike Brown, a research analyst for the online marketplace for financial services, found that:
•Overall, 32 percent of students have no responsibility in paying for college, while 39 percent pay for some of it, and 29 percent are responsible for all of it.
•Only 26 percent of both Black and Hispanic/Latino students and 28 percent of Native American students have no responsibility in paying for college compared to 45 percent of Asian students, 48 percent of Middle Eastern students and 31 percent of White students.
•At 36 percent, Native American students reported the highest rate of personally paying for all of their college education, with Black and Hispanic/Latino students at 32 percent each. Asian and Middle Eastern students were the lowest at 18 percent each, and White students at 30 percent.
•Female and male students displayed similar results in terms of who is responsible for paying for college, with women 1 percentage point more likely than men to pay for all or none of their education and men 1 percent more likely to pay for some of the costs.
