While some Americans are prospering, many young college graduates find themselves falling behind. The U.S.’s $1.5 trillion student debt mountain is rapidly rising up the political agenda as economists warn that the borrowings are impairing individuals’ ability to buy homes and start businesses, and are disproportionately affecting poorer and minority students. Recently, technology investor Robert F. Smith promised to pay off the student loans of the graduating class of Morehouse College, a historically Black college in Atlanta, in a move that intensified the debate about the impact of student debt on African Americans. Black college graduates owe $7,400 more on average than their White peers when they earn their bachelor’s degrees, according to an analysis by the Brookings Institution, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank. But according to a recent Federal Reserve report, that’s not the only racial gap. |