Student Debt Forgiveness Is a Women’s Issue
Wiping out student debt would help level the playing field for women, both in the workforce and at home
The issue of student debt has been widely covered as a generational issue, plaguing millions of millennials and a currently expanding pool of Gen Zers. But what often goes unexplored is the way in which student debt is a gender issue, too.
Women hold two-thirds of student loans. They have borrowed more money because they go to college at a higher rate — since the 1990s, almost 60% of U.S. undergraduates have been female. Women have earned the majority of doctorate degrees for more than a decade. Women also pursue more credentials so they can win the same jobs as men, which increases their level of student debt.
For all these reasons, it’s important that student debt be forgiven entirely, not partially. A policy that cancels a limited amount of debt per person, such as the $50,000 proposed by Elizabeth Warren during the Democratic primaries, discriminates against women, because women hold more debt.
Student debt is sometimes thought of as an elite issue, affecting only those who attend expensive private colleges, but it’s not: Two-thirds of millennials have some kind of postsecondary training. Forgiving student debt will not…
