In the United States education is extolled as a means for bettering oneself on a road to living the ‘American dream’ and becoming a more productive citizen for yourself, your family, and your country. However, has the United States, the so-called “land of opportunity” taken a university U-turn where college loans become a noose around the necks of Black Americans and the nation’s minorities preventing them from getting married, buying houses, and living the American Dream? Black and minorities borrow at higher rates to finance college because their families and communities have less financial resources than in comparison to those of their White peers. They also have lower incomes on average after graduation and often owe more money ten years after graduation because low monthly payments do not paydown the principal, but instead interest charges accumulate causing the loan borrower to be deeper in debt than when they first graduated.

Speaker: James Curiel
Authors: James Curiel, Qaamel Baynard, Djomeni Djonkam, Marquise Hall, Tonya Perkins, Ryan Southall

Published in: London International Conference on Education (LICE-2023)

• Date of Conference: 13-15 November 2023
• DOI: 10.20533/LICE.2023.0003
• ISBN: 978-1-913572-66-2
• Conference Location: St Anne’s College, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK