"The good news," she adds, "is that ... salaries are similar [for Blacks and Whites]. That's what we want to see."
Family Ties
Another reason for the heavy sense of burden among Black borrowers, Saunders speculates, is the sense of family responsibility displayed by first-generation college graduates, who tend to be from the lower end of the socioeconomic spectrum.
"If they are the first to get a degree and a good job, they tend to share the wealth more with their families. They are more apt to give financial support to relatives," she says. "You see more of their income going to other family members."
Saunders has written three reports for Nellie Mae -- in 1987, 1991, and 1997 -- and also did her graduate work in student finances and access to higher education. She says concern about access issues and loan fear are even higher within Hispanic and Asian communities.
The survey -- which included responses from 1,098 undergraduate, graduate, vocational, and professional student loan borrowers who began repaying their loans Between January 1993 and July 1996, 5 percent of whom were Black -- cited several factors which have contributed to the increased debt. Among them are:
* rising college costs;
* less availability of grant aid;
* increased eligibility for federal loans, which began in 1992;
* a larger percentage of older "independent" students who receive little financial help from their families; and
* starting salaries which were depressed during the wage stabilization that began with the recession of the early 1990s.
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