College degrees did little to protect Black and Hispanic families during the downturn

The St. Louis Fed findings add to the growing body of evidence that higher education benefits some groups more than others, which may help to exacerbate the yawning racial wealth gap instead of shrink it. Black and Hispanic students are more likely to approach college with lower levels of wealth on average and are, therefore, more likely to have to borrow to attend school, according to a report earlier this year from Demos, a left-leaning think tank. Given that student loans tend to delay the accumulation of other wealth, such as buying a home, these higher levels of debt continue to put black and Hispanic college graduates at a disadvantage.