This article claims that Black Americans, especially Black women have made substantial progress in college enrollment and degree attainment in recent decades. From 2000 to 2015, Black American females were either second to Asian males or third to Asian males and Asian females in their proportion of those enrolled in college in the United States. In 2016, there were 2.446 million Black women and 1.841 million Black men aged 18 and over with at least a bachelor’s degree. However, these achievements have come at a very high financial cost, compared to other groups. The factors cited for the high debt burden on Black American students, especially Black women include: the shift from grants to loans with interests to pay for college; lack of scholarships (research assistantship and traineeship) compared to students from other groups; the high cost of college education at for-profit institutions; and lack of funding from parents or family members. A number of recommendations to manage this problem, including increase in the number of “grant aid” and lowering the cost of undergraduate instruction, are presented in this article.
Black Americans Higher Education High Cost Gender Grants Scholarships Black Women1. Introduction
Among all of the groups and sub-groups in the United States, Black American females (women and girls) tend to work twice as hard or more to get any opportunities or to be recognized. In discussing the gradual progress of Black women elected to state legislatures, Williams (2001: p. 314) notes that they are more educated than their male counterparts, and both White males and White females (also see Brown & Banks, 2014: p. 174 ). Williams (2001: p. 314) then claims that, “In sum, the old adage black parents often tell their children, “You’ve got to work twice as hard to get half as far”, seems to partially explain the puzzle…” of the successes that Black women are having being elected to public office. Educational attainment is a very important variable when it comes to being elected to political office in the United States. For example, during the 108th U.S. Congress (January 3, 2003 to January 3, 2005), over 92% of all 535 members of Congress had at least a bachelor’s degree (Kaba & Ward, 2009: p. 36) . The data in this article will show that Black women have higher college enrollment and more overall college degrees than their male counterparts. Black women are more in number and are older on average than their male counterparts. These are the variables that contribute to being elected to political office. However, Black women accounted for 40.9% of Black members of the U.S. House of Representatives in 2015 (Dittmar, 2015: p. 5) , and there is only one Black woman in the United States Senate, but two Black men are serving in that body (Kaba, 2017) .
In 2011, Blacks accounted for 6% of all college presidents in the United States, but Black women accounted for 34% of those Black presidents. As of January 2016, of the five Black CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, only 1 was a Black woman ( McGirt, 2016: p. 52 , January 22). Black women in U.S. higher education are also less likely to get tenure, promotion or endowed or distinguished professorships (Kaba, 2016) . There were 9,040,816 Black females aged 16 and over and 7,624,429 Black males aged 16 and older in the civilian labor force in 2014, with 33.4% of Black females in management, business, science, and arts occupations (the highest job category in the nation); and 23% of their male counterparts in that same employment category. However, in 2010, the median usual weekly earnings of those who work full-time in that top employment category, Asian men earned $1408; White men earned $1273; Asian women earned $1143; Hispanic men earned $1002; Black men earned $957; White women earned $932; and Black women earned $812. In addition, 46%, 42%, and 34% of Asian women, White women, and Black women respectively were employed in management, professional, and related jobs in 2010 (United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2016) .
This current work illustrates a continuation of this trend, whereby although Black women are among the top groups enrolled in college and have also substantially increased their overall numbers of various types and levels of college or university degrees, they are paying a very high financial cost for their higher education, compared with members of other racial and cultural groups.
This article examines the high cost of higher education to Black Americans, focusing on Black women. The article begins by presenting data on the trends in college enrollment and degree attainment of Black Americans, focusing on Black women. Next, the paper presents evidence showing that Blacks, especially Black females pay far too much for their education. Next, the factors responsible for the high cost of college education to Black Americans, especially Black females are presented. Finally, some recommendations for reducing this high debt burden on Black American students, especially Black women are presented.
2. College Enrollment and Degree Attainment Trends of Black Americans
When higher education enrollment and degree attainment data of the United States are carefully examined, one finds that Black Americans, especially Black women have made substantial progress over the past century. According to Thomas & Jackson (2007: p. 367) , in 1862, a Black American woman named Mary Jane Patterson became the first of her group to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree from an established institution in the United States (Oberlin College in Ohio). Since that period, Black American women have made gradual progress in higher education attainment until the current period, where they earn more college degrees than their male counterparts in almost all academic levels and disciplines. Musser (1997: p. 78) points out that prior to the start of the 1900s, there were 2079 Black Americans recorded to have earned a college degree. In 1917, there were only 2132 Black Americans enrolled in college, and that figure increased to 13,580 a decade later. In 1930, an estimated 19,000 students were enrolled in historically Black higher education institutions. In 1970, an estimated 378,000 Black Americans were enrolled in higher education institutions (Franklin & Moss, 1994: p. 9) . By the mid-1970s, more Black females had enrolled in colleges and universities in almost all levels than Black males. In 1976, of the 1,033,000 Black students enrolled in higher education institutions, 563,100 (54.5%) were females and 469,900 (45.9%) were males (Kaba, 2005: p. 2) . According to Iloh & Toldson (2013: p. 205) , in 1982, 40% of Black American students and 53% of White students enrolled into college after graduation from high school, and that by 2011 the figures were 65% for Black Americans and 69% for White Americans.
The United States Census Bureau annually publishes college (undergraduate and graduate) enrollment data for individuals in the United States “aged three and over by sex, age, race, and Hispanic origin”. In each of the 16 years from 2000 to 2015, Black females have ranked second after Asian males, or third after Asian males and Asian females. For example, in 2015, the college enrollment rates were 9.5% for Asian females, 9.3% for Asian males, and 8% for “Black Alone” females (United States Census Bureau, 2016) . It is useful to note that part of the reason for Asians ranking so high in college enrollment is due to the massive number of international students from Asia enrolled in U.S. colleges and universities. For example, of the 974,926 international students enrolled in U.S. colleges and universities during the 2014-2015 academic year, 627,306 (64.3%) are from Asia (Fact Sheets by Region: 2015, 2016) .
In this section, the focus is on college enrollment data for the year 2012 because it shows the most recent year that Black females ranked second to Asian males. According to Table 1, of the 21.842 million Black females aged 3 and over as of October 2012, 2.043 million (9.4%) were enrolled in college. The average for females in general was 7.4% (11.33 million out of 152.33 million); 6.8% (6.6 million out of 96.4 million) of non-Hispanic White females; 7.6% (1.89 million out of 24.75 million) of Hispanic females; and 9.2% (747,000 out of 8.116 million) of Asian females. Among males, Asians had the highest rate, and also among all groups: 9.5% (700,000 out of 7.356 million); 5.9% (8.6 million out of 144.9 million) of males in general; 5.5% (5.074 million out of 92.3 million) of non-Hispanic Whites; 6.8% (1.3 million out of 18.973 million) of Blacks; and 6% (1.5 million out of 25.1 million) of Hispanics.
3. Numbers and Percentages of Americans with College Degrees, 2015
The United States Census Bureau also annually publishes educational attainment data for individuals in the United States from various racial/ethnic groups. Black women have made steady progress in degree attainment in recent decades. Here we focus on the following for those aged 18 years and over, and 25 years and over: bachelor’s, master’s, professional, and doctoral degrees for the year 2016. According to Table 2(a), in 2016, among women, Asians aged 18 and over had the highest proportion (30.8%) of bachelor’s degrees (2.366 million out of 7.674 million); 22.4% for non-Hispanic Whites (18.122 million out of 80.765 million); 14% for Blacks (2.446 million out of 17.491 million); and 10.6% for Hispanics (2.044 million out of 19.362 million).
For men aged 18 and over, Asians had the highest proportion (30%) of bachelor’s degrees (2.034 million out of 6.781 million); 21.7% for non-Hispanic Whites (16.690 million out of 76.826 million); 12.6% for Blacks (1.841 million out of 14.608 million); and 9.4% for Hispanics (1.801 million out of 19.187
College enrollment status of the population 3 years old and over, by sex, age, race, and hispanic origin, October 2012
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