Comments on: The college degree gap between Black and white Americans was always bad. It’s getting worse https://hechingerreport.org/the-college-going-gap-between-black-and-white-americans-was-always-bad-its-getting-worse/ Covering Innovation & Inequality in Education Mon, 16 Oct 2023 16:22:58 +0000 hourly 1 By: Jeannie Ringo https://hechingerreport.org/the-college-going-gap-between-black-and-white-americans-was-always-bad-its-getting-worse/comment-page-1/#comment-48116 Tue, 23 May 2023 18:52:36 +0000 https://hechingerreport.org/?p=93325#comment-48116 I appreciate much of the focus of this article; however, it follows a troubling trend that conflates and distorts data and seems to drive to a conclusion that college and spending for college or grad school is ‘not worth it for Black people.’ For example, the data point referenced from the Brookings study is quoted here as ‘black students who make it to graduation owe 50% more than in loans whites’. And the quote is called out later in the article as a talking point with no footnote. The link to the Brookings article shows that’s not accurate, and in particular that the 50% number is 4 years after graduation, and includes usage of different loan product AND grad school borrowing, which is an entirely different issue and again implies Black people shouldn’t use any loans or credit to get to the same place that higher income (white) people get to. The Brookings study also includes non borrowers, which isn’t explained in your piece. The article then implies this 50% more debt is held by Black people with lower paying jobs. But these are the folks who got grad degrees?

The reality is that due to many historic and wide ranging factors, Black students in the US are often lower income – on average – than white peers in college. So, unless financial aid or grants are more abundant, they are going to have to find funds to close the gap to get a college degree. I agree that Black and low income students should have better pathways to pay for college, but I strongly disagree that they should be discouraged to complete college – 2 year or 4 year – until it magically costs less . I fear that is the prevailing theme here.

]]> By: Charles Johnson https://hechingerreport.org/the-college-going-gap-between-black-and-white-americans-was-always-bad-its-getting-worse/comment-page-1/#comment-45818 Mon, 15 May 2023 17:53:21 +0000 https://hechingerreport.org/?p=93325#comment-45818 Hello,
I am writing this letter to lend my voice to the subject of college gaps. I am retired military, I work in education, and I am a mental health professional with a passion for this subject. I do agree with the statistical data because it paints the present picture concerning black educational achievement. I am solutions-orientated with a belief that we have the power to lead the change. My belief is that we as a collective have looked too much at external locus of control and not enough at internal factors of control. The identification of Black as a race or ethnicity has reduced our ability to educate young people to command task (resource) goal orientated behavior; therefore, they are focused on success and failure. This is something we cannot control due to the fact that we do not command any production sector of control in this nation.

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