The United Negro College Fund released a new report "examining the rates, amounts and distribution of student loan debt among HBCU students relative to their non-HBCU peers." The information gathered outlines several borrowing factors and existing hurdles in repaying borrowed funds. According to the UNCF, this includes racial wealth gaps, declining investments in higher education, unmet financial need, limited institutional resources and other economic barriers.
"Despite these challenges, HBCUs continue to be a ‘best buy’ in higher education by offering comparably lower-cost tuition and disproportionately producing African American college graduates," said Dr. Brian K. Bridges, who leads UNCF’s Frederick D. Patterson Research Institute. "UNCF awards $100 million each year in need-based student scholarships to address the financial obstacles that HBCU students confront. We are doing our part. Now, the country must invest so that HBCU students can earn their degrees with more resources and less debt."
The report "Fewer Resources, More Debt: Loan Debt Burdens Students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities" revealed six key findings including HBCU grads with significantly higher amounts of borrowed federal loans compared to other institutions and HBCU students.
"Seven years after leaving college, the average cohort repayment rate for HBCU students is considerably lower than that for students at non-HBCUs (59 percent vs. 85 percent). However, these figures alone do not take into account several important factors that impact repayment rates, such as student economic status, labor market conditions and choice of educational program," the report states.
Along with these findings, the report notes that students at HBCUs rely heavily on federal programs like the Pell Grant, which have drastically decreased over the years. It also notes that HBCUs have small endowments that make it hard to provide their students with institutional grants. Grants that are desperately needed because HBCU students have a large amount of unmet need that forces them to take out student loans. This issue, however, isn't just one that is solely discussed in the HBCU community and by advocates. This issue is one that needs the support of policy and the incoming administration.
Cheryl L. Smith, UNCF’s senior vice president for public policy and government affairs, is urging the incoming administration and Congress to do something about investments in high education and federal financial aid policies that need to be in place to help low-income minority students.
"This report documents the crisis and suggests four policy areas that are ripe for reform to reduce the heavy debt burden faced by HBCU students. Congress and the next administration have an opportunity with the renewal of the Higher Education Act to lessen the financial load,” Smith said.
The report provides recommendations for policymakers to help address the financial burden HBCU students are facing. These suggestions include reducing the complexity of the federal student aid eligibility process to reach more low-income students by providing grant aid and work-study opportunities and also creating a manageable repayment process.
Hopefully, policymakers will agree and follow the recommendations the UNCF has laid out and invite others to have a seat at the table so that we can all discuss how to help the next generation of thought leaders.
