Millions of people of color have NO access to affordable health care or quality education — 2 million Americans lack running water

That history has also limited the resources black families have to pay for college, made it more likely that black students will attend colleges with limited resources and be targeted by predatory colleges, while still facing barriers to entering wealthy, elite higher education institutions. They’re also more likely to struggle to repay the debt after they leave school.

In fact, 12 years after entering college, white men have paid off 44% of their student-loan balance on average, according to an analysis released last year by Demos, a left-leaning think tank. For white women, that share drops to 28%. For black borrowers, the picture is even bleaker. Black women see their loan balances actually grow 13% on average, 12 years after leaving school, while black men see their balances grow 11%.