Federal policy package to end the student debt crisis for Black women: cancel debt, improve IDR, and double the Pell Grant¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · no claims cited

Description¶

The brief recommends that Congress and the Biden administration act on three fronts: cancel federal student debt (The Education Trust supports "canceling at least $50,000 of federal student debt" and opposes income, loan-type, or degree-level eligibility limits), improve income-driven repayment plans to lower monthly payments, reduce negative amortization, and shorten time to forgiveness, and double the Pell Grant with federal-state partnerships to make public college debt free. It frames these as steps toward racial equity in higher education.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Action by Congress and the Biden administration, since the brief frames the crisis as the result of failed federal policy

Constraints¶

• The brief presents these as policy recommendations supported by cited research, not as effects tested in this brief

Target Learners¶

• Black women borrowers in repayment
• current and future college students

Target Learning Goals¶

• affordable access to higher education
• equitable degree attainment and repayment

Claims¶

Related Strategies¶

• Policy package to ease Parent PLUS burdens: targeted cancellation, full IDR/PSLF access, lower rates, and affordable alternatives
• Invest in public higher education to lower graduate costs and reduce borrowing reliance

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Victoria Jackson and Brittani Williams. (2022). How Black Women Experience Student Debt. The Education Trust. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED622769