DeLawren Bradshaw, 20, juggles one job at the Griot Music Lounge, a black-owned, vinyl-centric bar minutes away from Wayne State University’s Detroit campus, and another part-time job as a home health aide at a senior living facility in Commerce Township.

Wayne State University student DeLawren Bradshaw of Southfield poses for a photo while working at Griot Music Lounge in Detroit on Tuesday, September 10, 2019. Ryan Garza, Detroit Free Press

She’s doing it all — working roughly 40 hours a week — while attending classes to get a bachelor’s degree in education at Wayne State. She hopes to start out teaching at the high school level, possibly math. Her dream job is to became a principal. And she's more fortunate than most, since she has a sizable scholarship.

Working toward a dream, though, like for so many, means piling on the debt.

“Right now, I’m $11,000 in debt,” the college junior said.

The college loans will only keep building as she finishes her undergraduate work in 2022 and then moves on for another two years in graduate school. The way she sees it now, she could end up with $20,000 or more in college debt down the road.

Young women like Bradshaw aren’t just juggling jobs in college these days; they also end up juggling the bulk of the student loan debt in the country. It makes them even more vulnerable in the next recession if they face job reductions or pay cuts. Some could be shut out of the middle class lifestyle that drives many to college in the first place.

So often, student loan debt is talked about in wide-ranging terms that mask the true impact on a community, particularly on women of color.

Women hold almost two-thirds of the outstanding student loan debt in the United States, according to a key study by American Association of University Women, a nonprofit based in Washington, D.C., that promotes equity and education for women and girls.

Black women have the highest student loan debt of any racial or ethnic group, according to the AAUW report.

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Black women bear largest burden in student debt crisis Black women have the highest student loan debt of any racial or ethnic group, according to a key study by American Association of University Women Detroit Free Press

Taking on more loans

The average black woman graduating with a bachelor's degree accrues $30,366 in student loan debt, based on the latest data for those graduating in 2016.

African American women end up with on average $10,880 more in college debt — or nearly 56% more in debt — than the average white male, according to the latest AAUW information released in May.

About $929 billion in outstanding student loan debt — out of $1.46 trillion — in the United States is held by women. Student loan debt exceeds all other forms of consumer debt now, except mortgages.

“That’s a staggering statistic,” said Deborah Vagins, senior vice president of public policy and research for AAUW.

“Like most issues, it’s even worse for women of color,” Vagins said.

Women — particularly African American women — tend to be more likely to take out college loans, face a challenging wage gap when they find work, and struggle to repay their student loans, according to researchers.

Wayne State University student DeLawren Bradshaw, who is working two part-time jobs to limit her student loan debt, talks with customers while bartending at Griot Music Lounge in Detroit on Tuesday, September 10, 2019. Ryan Garza, Detroit Free Press

Women take about two years longer than men to repay student loans — and are more likely to struggle economically as they do, according to the AAUW research.

“It’s a troubling reminder that we have significant gender and racial gaps,” Vagins said. "People often don't think about student debt as a gender issue."

Yet in some cases, she said, parents may save less money for a daughter's college fund than a son's, so there may be less of a family contribution. Even at a young age, women may make less money — perhaps babysitting or working as a cashier — than men who might snag higher paying, heavy labor jobs. So the pay gap can start even before you head to college, she said.

DeLawren Bradshaw, 20, of Southfield is enrolled at Wayne State University We’re spending all this money to pay to come to school. Once we get out, if we don’t find a good paying job, we’re going to be stuck in debt for a very long time. Quote icon

Some students who attended high school in urban school districts say their counselors seemed more focused on athletes obtaining athletic scholarships — not necessarily guiding young women through the maze of financial aid needed for college.

After college, the pay gap deepens.

"Women are being offered less when they start jobs, they get fewer raises and they get less promotions," Vagins said.

Black women report higher rates of struggling financially to pay off debts, she said, which could drive them to make different financial choices in their lives.

Black women have the highest student loan debt Black women have the highest student loan debt of any racial or ethnic group. Susan Tompor, Detroit Free Press Personal Finance Columnist

College debt hangs over their heads

"You're living a life to pay someone back — not do something you desire to do," said Maya Mohammed, 19, a junior at Wayne State who wants to find a job as an athletic trainer one day.

She and her friends talk about how much of a headache college debt has become for their generation. She's had to take on more debt than she expected, too, as she lost a full scholarship after getting lower grades during her first year at college.

The debt, no doubt, she says, will influence many decisions in her adult life. "It'll put a pause on the family I want to have."

Maya Mohammed talks about her concerns with student loans at the Wayne State University Student Center in Detroit on Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2019. Ryan Garza, Detroit Free Press

The magnitude of the student debt crisis has many concerned that borrowers won't be able to build wealth in other ways — such as saving money in a 401(k) plan or saving for a down payment for a home — because they're paying off old college bills.

"Student debt at this level is a relatively new phenomenon," said Ashley Harrington, senior policy counsel for the Center for Responsible Lending based in Washington, D.C.

Instead of creating a pathway to opportunity, high levels of debt could create more economic roadblocks, particularly for students of color.

Ashley Harrington, senior policy counsel for the Center for Responsible Lending based in Washington, D.C.. To work your way through college, you'd have to have three full time jobs. The idea that you can work your way through college is no longer representative of reality. Quote icon

Decades ago, many people could take a job in the summer -— work a little on campus — and cover a good chunk of their tuition and expenses before graduating from college. Not so much any more.

"To work your way through college, you'd have to have three part-time jobs," Harrington said. "The idea that you can work your way through college is no longer representative of reality."

Some households, hers included, have high student loan debt payments but they're able to manage. Others, though, who qualify for federal Pell Grants for low-income students, face far more difficulty when they have to take out unsubsidized student loans, where the interest builds and builds, to cover the rest of what's owed for college.

"People are having to make choices: Do I pay my student loan? Or do I pay my rent?" Harrington said.

In some cases, Harrington noted, research shows that rather than helping communities of color build wealth, the cost of a college education — and the heavy burden of student debt — can even deepen the wealth gap.

And a college degree is no longer optional for many good paying jobs.

The vast majority of the jobs created from 2010 to 2016, following the massive job losses in the Great Recession, have gone to those with at least some college education, according to "America's Divided Recovery: College Haves and Have-Nots" from the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce.

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Yet taking on debt for a diploma can be a double-edged sword. Just because you have a college degree doesn't mean you're going to make enough to pay your college debt, especially if you're stuck borrowing a good deal to pay for college.

Typically, a general guideline is that you don't want to owe more than what you can make that first year out of college.

“If total debt is less than annual income, you should be able to repay your student loans in 10 years or less,” said Mark Kantrowitz, publisher and vice president of research for Savingforcollege.com.

Graduating with $35,000 in college debt could amount to a $371 a month payment under a standard 10-year repayment plan, assuming a 5% interest rate. That's just a tad lower than the average car payment for a used car.

Many times, young women who are graduating from college may owe far more than they're likely to earn out of school, especially if their degree won't snag a high-paying job in a field like engineering.

“We’re spending all this money to pay to come to school. Once we get out, if we don’t find a good paying job, we’re going to be stuck in debt for a very long time,” Bradshaw said.

No relief seems in sight

Student loan debt is never far from Bradshaw's mind.

"I always take into consideration that I have to pay that back eventually," Bradshaw said.

So, she keeps figuring out ways to make money and save money while she’s in school — such as living away from campus and the dorm life to save thousands of dollars.

She expects to maybe make $40,000 a year when she graduates from Wayne State — which would be more than she owes if she can hold down her college debt in the future.

Show caption Hide caption Wayne State University student DeLawren Bradshaw of Southfield talks about how she's trying to hold the line and borrow less than $20,000 for college on... Wayne State University student DeLawren Bradshaw of Southfield talks about how she's trying to hold the line and borrow less than $20,000 for college on the campus of Wayne State University in Detroit on Wednesday, September 4, 2019. Ryan Garza, Detroit Free Press

Yet that's a big if.

Right now, she’s doing far better than others since four years of her college tuition is already covered by the Kalamazoo Promise scholarship that covers college tuition for four years and mandatory fees for students who graduate from Kalamazoo Public Schools.

But she will take on even more debt when she has to cover tuition for what's likely to be a fifth year of school, as well as going to graduate school.

Day to day, her financial challenges include supporting herself and paying for her car insurance, her car loan, cellphone, gas for her car, and groceries — as well as paying for college.

As much as some Democratic presidential candidates and others pitch new debt cancelation plans, many borrowers aren't overly hopeful that they'll see much relief. Few teachers, nurses and other public servants actually have seen their loans forgiven, thanks to complex rules that exist under current programs.

Only 1% of 54,000 loan forgiveness requests made in a year between May 2018 and May 2019 were approved by the Department of Education even after using a new simpler method as required by Congress, according to a new report issued in September by the Government Accountability Office. The report concluded that many borrowers were confused by the process and some eligible borrowers may indeed still miss opportunities to have their loans forgiven.

For decades, a college diploma has been the ticket toward a better life in the United States. Students of color, though, are accumulating high levels of unsustainable debt — making advancement less of a certainty.

The student loan crisis can be viewed as "both a civil rights and an economic justice issue," according to a report called "Borrowers of Color & the Student Debt Crisis," which was released in July by the Center for Responsible Lending and the NAACP.

African Americans can face more difficulty paying off debt and building savings to survive financial shocks because of an ongoing income gap, according to the study.

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Some have no idea that interest builds

First-generation college students face even greater difficulty, especially if they aren’t well versed in how quickly student loan interest builds.

"I'll be the first one in my family to graduate in May," said Miracle Chatman, 22, a senior majoring in math at Michigan State University.

Chatman, who grew up in Detroit and graduated from Renaissance High School, has one job offer on the table for $55,000 a year teaching in New Jersey. She owes $43,605 already in student loan debt — and she knows what she owes will build as the interest clock keeps ticking.

Miracle Chatman, 22, a senior majoring in math at Michigan State University I didn’t take out loans because I wanted to. I took out the loans because I had to in order to live and be able to go to school. Quote icon

She said many students from Detroit don’t have much access to financial literacy courses, and as a result don’t know that they will end up owing far more than they initially borrow for college as interest builds on a sizable portion of their loans.

“I didn’t take out loans because I wanted to,” she said. “I took out the loans because I had to in order to live and be able to go to school.”

She said she just knew that she had to keep taking out student loans to stay in college.

"A lot of people think if you have a scholarship, that means it's covering everything," Chatman said.

The youngest of six children, she notes that none of her brothers and sisters have graduated from college. Her parents helped out some older siblings but her student loan burden fell on her. Both of her parents work, her mother at Target. Chatman has two jobs on campus, working nearly 30 hours a week, too.

Show caption Hide caption Miracle Chatman, 22, of Detroit, has more than $43,000 in student loan debt. She plans to graduate in May from Michigan State University in East... Miracle Chatman, 22, of Detroit, has more than $43,000 in student loan debt. She plans to graduate in May from Michigan State University in East Lansing, where she is photographed on campus on Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2019. Chatman plans to begin teaching after she graduates, but will have $43,605 in student debt. Kimberly P. Mitchell, Detroit Free Press

She is leaning toward taking that job in Newark, in part, because it offers direct help in covering half of her cost toward getting her certification as a teacher. She had an internship in the Newark school district in the summer.

“MSU’s program is phenomenal in education,” she said. “But I just can’t afford financially to do it.”

Chatman said she'd have to borrow even more money to further her education coursework at MSU.

While she still benefits from the Pell Grant this year — receiving $1,545 this year — and nearly $6,000 in scholarships and other grants, she remains responsible for coming up with roughly $25,000 through loans or out of pocket to cover college and her estimated cost of living this year, her fifth year. She's trying to hold down her living costs, work to make more money and borrow as little as possible.

“This year, I lost a lot of my aid,” she said, noting that her parents' income went up and cut into her aid.

She benefited earlier from other scholarships and grants, thanks to getting strong grades early in college.

Her grants include about $15,000 through the TEACH Grant or the Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education grant.

"I want to be a teacher and there is some loan forgiveness for educators," she said. "I plan to teach in an urban area after I graduate."

Taking the job in Newark would help fulfill the requirements of the TEACH grant, which include teaching in a high-need field at a school that serves low-income families. She also must agree to teach full time for at least four years.

Unfortunately, she'd owe the money covered under her TEACH Grant, if she does not meet the requirements. That's because the grant would convert into an unsubsidized federal student loan, where interest is charged from the date the loan was disbursed. Her costs would only go up — if she doesn't teach and meet the set requirements under the grant.

It hasn’t helped, she said, that interest keeps building on other student loans.

"I will end up owing so much more than I took out," she said.

On the plus side, she does have that job offer. And Kantrowitz notes that if her debt doesn't increase too much, her debt at graduation will be less than her annual income. If so, he said, she should be able to repay it in 10 years or less if she focuses on maintaining an inexpensive lifestyle to pay down the debt as quickly as possible.

While she's happy to have a job offer already, she recognizes that the cost of living in New Jersey is high and she continues to worry.

"I think it's a great offer but I know that moving across the country is a big financial burden," she said.

Some students may benefit from other forgiveness programs that apply to federal student loans, not private loans. And, again, many need to carefully understand the necessary requirements for loan forgiveness.

To qualify, among other things, you must make 120 qualifying, on-time payments in an income-driven repayment plan or the standard repayment plan. Many times, public servants discover way too late in the game that their specific loans or repayment plans they've been using somehow make them ineligible.

Mother and daughter debt builds, too

For some families, student loan debt becomes a generational issue as parents try to juggle their own college aspirations with their children's college debt.

"I didn't have any savings at all to be able to go to school," said Kimberly Johnson, who lives in Detroit.

And she had to borrow to help send her daughter to college, too.

Johnson, 45, is now looking at $80,000 in student loan debt.

Show caption Hide caption Kimberly Johnson, 45, of Detroit is enrolled in online classes at Ferris State University where she is getting a degree in Business Administration Operations Management... Kimberly Johnson, 45, of Detroit is enrolled in online classes at Ferris State University where she is getting a degree in Business Administration Operations Management and will owe more than $80,000 in student loans by the time she finishes. Johnson is photographed outside Douglass Branch Detroit Public Library in Scripps Park in Detroit on Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2019. Johnson, who works 48 hours a week, sometimes does her homework in the library. Kimberly P. Mitchell, Detroit Free Press

A sizable chunk of her college debt involves a Parent PLUS student loan that she took out for her daughter to attend Madonna College. She initially borrowed about $23,000 but the interest has built over time.

"Once you max out on those grants, that's where you ratchet up those loans."

Her daughter didn't finish school as they just didn't have enough money to continue. Her daughter is now self-employed as a writer and proofreader. Her son didn't go to college.

Not finishing school can be a major setback when it comes to college debt, which continues to haunt borrowers, but the promise of a better paycheck does not follow.

"I do worry about it," said Johnson, who is single and decided to go back to school after her two children were grown.

Johnson makes about $16 an hour as a contract worker at AK Steel in Dearborn. She's a railroad clerk, driving a Ford F-250 truck around the tracks to verify that rail car numbers on the track match with the appropriate shipments.

She spotted the opening via a job-search app. Initially, she thought it was an office job as a clerk, not a job in a factory setting.

"No," she laughs now, "you're going to be wearing steel-toe boots."

She's happy to have this new job where she works about 48 hours a week, including overtime. After taxes and what she pays for insurance, she's looking at bringing home about $390 or so a week.

Kimberly Johnson, 45, of Detroit is enrolled in online classes at Ferris State University Honestly, my children are pretty proud of me," she said. "I pray that I'm an inspiration to them. Quote icon

The job, she says, is "dirty but it's cool."

When she's not on the job, she's studying to get her bachelor's degree in business through online courses offered by Ferris State University.

She took some college courses when she was younger but she was raising two small children on her own and had a hard time finishing college.

"You want to be a provider," she said in an interview outside of a Detroit public library where she has used the computers to study.

"But you also want to be a parent, as well."

She couldn't juggle being a young mother and steadily pursuing her college degree. She went back to college in her 40s and completed an associate degree at Wayne County Community College, where her counselor suggested that she take online courses through Ferris State University to obtain her bachelor's degree in business.

So far this year, Johnson took out $6,000 in student loans to take two college courses online — and cover other expenses. She thought it might be less expensive to go take college courses online but it cost her nearly $4,000 to take two classes this semester.

"My loans have always been $3,000, $4,000, $5,000 per semester," she said.

Taking online classes now requires more discipline, she says, but allowed her to get credit for her work at Wayne County Community College.

Johnson is not letting anything get in her way. When her laptop was stolen from her home, she spent more time at the Duffield branch of the Detroit Public Library on West Grand Boulevard working at desktop computers. Some days, she'd go to the Douglass branch on Grand River. She now uses a laptop she borrowed from a friend, as well as going to the library.

She plans to graduate sometime in 2020.

She's hoping that a degree will help her get a job in the $60,000 to $70,000 range — roughly double what she would make in her current job without the overtime at the steel operation.

She has an eye on being an entrepreneur too, possibly developing a GPS-tracking system that can help people quickly reunite with their lost pets. She took part in 20-week ProsperUS Detroit program offered by Southwest Economic Solutions. The development initiative focuses on building and sustaining neighborhood entrepreneurs and small businesses.

"Honestly, my children are pretty proud of me," she said. "I pray that I'm an inspiration to them."

Debt doesn't always derail dreams

If you drop out — or don't end up getting a job -— it's far harder to repay any student loans you do take out.

"For African American borrowers who entered higher education in 2003–04 as undergraduates, almost 49% had defaulted by 2016," according to the report called "Borrowers of Color & the Student Debt Crisis," released by the Center for Responsible Lending and the NAACP.

It's estimated that almost 70% of this group is projected to default by 2024.

Staci Irvin, 51, went into default at one point.

She started college at Wayne State in the late 1980s but then got married at 21 and had two children. She continued to take a class here and there. She took one year off, though, in the mid-1990s — a move that she didn't realize would trigger a requirement that she start making monthly payments on her student loans.

She ended up going into default without really realizing it.

When she later got a job working for Southfield Public Schools as a substitute teacher, she discovered one of the harsh consequences of going into default — she saw a substantial portion of her wages being garnished to pay off those federal student loans.

She wasn't aware of the penalties — late fees, collection costs, damages to one's credit score — for being in default. Private lenders often sue their borrowers who default on their student loan, too.

Wayne State University student Staci Irvin of Detroit talks about her concerns with student loans at the Wayne State University Student Center in Detroit on Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2019. Ryan Garza, Detroit Free Press

Her husband, Khalid Irvin — her high school sweetheart at Benedictine High School —dealt with all his college debt already but she's still looking at financial headaches. The financial crisis of 2008-09 also set the family back after some job losses.

Irvin ultimately ended up in a student loan rehabilitation program for her debt about four years ago.

As part of that program, she had to make all nine payments that had been agreed upon during 10 consecutive months.

Under a loan rehabilitation program, the loan holder takes into account the borrower's income. A reasonable monthly payment amount is calculated and based on 15% of the borrower's annual discretionary income, divided by 12.

Discretionary income is the amount of your adjusted gross income (from your most recent federal income tax return) that exceeds 150% of the poverty guideline amount for your state and family size. You must provide documentation of your income.

It's been a long journey but she got her payments back on track. After she did so, she was able to take on more federal student loans so she could go back and finish college.

She never really gave up chasing her dream. And the dream of graduating from college moved up a notch after she battled a brain tumor in 2013 and her own mortality. Laying in her hospital bed she couldn't do anything for herself or anyone else, she says. She even wished she could do something as basic as washing the dishes — a chore she hates.

She wasn't thinking, she says, about her student loans then. And Irvin, who writes a spiritual blog, says she realizes now that small annoyances can cloud your mind and stop you from doing what you need to do.

"I'm telling you when you're on your deathbed, you don't even think about it."

Her philosophy: "If it matters on your deathbed, it matters now."

She's back attending classes at Wayne State, working toward a bachelor's degree in communications. She's part of the college's Warrior Way Back program, which was introduced in 2018 as a way to re-engage students who left the university with debt and without a degree. The model includes a way toward some debt forgiveness for those with small balances. Irvin expects to have about $1,000 she owes the college forgiven.

Even so, Irvin expects that she'll still be dealing with about $40,000 in student loan debt — including debt she built up years ago.

"It's something I can handle once I get a job," Irvin said. She just launched her own bookkeeping business called The Good Book Business Solutions out of her home in Detroit.

Irvin always valued an education and wanted to get her college degree.

"I have a daughter who has her master's degree already. I have a son in college."

"My grandmother went to college; my mom and dad," she said.

"I come from an educated family."

While the earlier generations didn't get degrees, she said, her two siblings did graduate from college.

"I'm the only one," she said, with her eye on graduating come May.

Contact Susan Tompor: 313-222-8876 or stompor@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @tompor. Read more on business and sign up for our business newsletter.