Americans collectively owe $1.7 trillion in student loans — and two-thirds of that is owed by women, according to the "Deeper in Debt: Women & Student Loans" 2021 report conducted by the American Association of University Women.
Four insights:
- Wage inequalities add to the challenges of repaying student loans. Women who graduate from college with a bachelor's degree earn an average of $35,338 during their first year out of college, which is just 81 percent of what their male counterparts earn.
- It takes women roughly two years longer than men to pay off their student loan debt.
- The report created a sample budget based on statistics reported by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the National Center for Education Statistics. With an average monthly student loan payment of $307, women without child care expenses only have $148 for nonessential expenses. For women who pay for child care, at $520 per month on average, there is a $372 monthly deficit.
- Black women have about 20 percent more student loan debt than white women. One year after graduation, Black women on average owe $41,466, compared to $38,747 for Pacific Islander and Hawaiian women, $36,184 for American Indian and Alaska Native women, $33,852 for white women, $29,302 for Hispanic women and $27,607 for Asian women.