Eighty-four percent of college students with Pell grants graduate from four-year public schools with debt, compared with less than half of students without the need-based grants, the report said. While less than two-thirds of white graduates from public schools borrow, four out of five black graduates take out loans for college. And black students who do borrow come out with more debt than their peers.
He added: “While higher-income, predominately white, households can hope to minimize borrowing by using tax-advantaged savings and investment accounts, home equity and other mechanisms, low-income households by and large cannot use these tools.”
In the last few decades, the cost of college has outpaced inflation and wages. States reversed course on investing in higher education, and public colleges raised tuition to offset the loss of funding. Federal grant aid for low-income students, which students of color often rely on, barely covers a third of the cost of college, according to the Institute for College Access and Success.