The IWPR study also offers a window into the way race affects a borrower’s’ experience with student debt. Studies show that black students are more likely to borrow for school and tend to borrow more than their white counterparts, likely because the gap in wealth between black and white Americans means black students have fewer resources to draw from to pay for college. Forgiving the student debt of households making $50,000 a year or less would narrow the wealth gap between black and white households by more than $2,000 or 7%, according a recent paper from Demos, a left-leaning think tank and Brandeis University’s Institute on Assets and Social Policy.
