The article discusses the growing concerns about student loan debt, particularly among Black borrowers who face disproportionate challenges compared to their white peers. With 44 million Americans owing student loans, anxiety has heightened due to President Trump's controversial policies regarding the U.S. Department of Education. His administration seeks to end race-conscious policies in education while also limiting data sharing related to loans. Critics, including professor Ivory Toldson, argue these changes threaten the integrity of the higher education marketplace and student repayment responsibility.
Not only do Black borrowers owe a disproportionate amount of the national student loan debt, but compared with their white counterparts, they also are more likely to struggle to pay back their loans.
Ivory Toldson, a professor of counseling psychology at Howard University, has long been concerned about the higher education marketplace, which he argues incentivizes students to prioritize a college's reputation over its cost, a tendency that can plunge them into extraordinary student loan debt.
Under Trump, the Department of Education has directed schools to stop race-conscious practices by the end of February or lose funding, while a federal judge has temporarily blocked the department from sharing sensitive data.
Trump ultimately wants to shut down the department that's supposed to determine how the federal government's education budget is spent, how student achievement is assessed, and how federal regulations of civil rights protections for students are interpreted.
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