The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) put a national spotlight on the Black student debt crisis in the U.S. and suggested how to combat it.
The nation’s oldest civil rights organization, held a virtual press conference on Monday to discuss a report titled “Legislation, Policy and the Black Student Debt Crisis,” a Lumina Foundation report that details and quantifies the economic inequalities that Black students face in higher education with regard to student debt burdens. The NAACP offers recommendations to address these issues.
Speakers included Tiffany Dena Loftin, NAACP Youth and College Division national director; Dr. Katherine Wheatle, Lumina Foundation strategy officer for federal policy and equity; Dr. Charles H.F Davis III, University of Michigan assistant professor of higher education; Dr. Jalil Mustaffa Bishop, University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education vice provost postdoctoral scholar; Keron Blair, Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools executive director; Russell Boyd II, NAACP Youth and College Division national field organizer; and Josh Thompson, Alabama Youth & College State Conference president.
“The student debt crisis has a disproportionate impact on Black borrowers and their families,” according to the report. “Across all racial groups, Black borrowers hold the most student loan debt despite also being consistently underserved by postsecondary institutions — especially for-profit and private non-profit colleges — toward persistence and degree-completion.”
Bishop – one of the authors of the report, along with Davis, Kyah King and Ayan Jama – explained why student debt was the topic of interest.
“We focus on student debt because it’s an issue in higher education that sits at the intersection of history, higher ed, the labor market and racism,” he said. “It allows us to understand how Black people’s pathway from the beginning – before they ever borrow a loan – to when they’re in the labor market trying to repay that loan, is structured by inequality and a lack of equal opportunity.”
Loftin opened up the conference, stating that the Nov. 3 general election was a mere 15 days away and that the U.S. now has more than $1.6 trillion in student loan debt.
