By Annie Nova - CNBC + Acorns
It's a hard-to-believe statistic: women owe two-thirds of the nation's $ 1.7 trillion student debt.
On average, women borrow more than $ 31,000 to finance their education.
Black women make more than $ 41,000.
Men, meanwhile, borrow about 29,000.
But those differences are only the beginning of the problem.
[Why the negative impact of COVID-19 on women is disproportionate]
It takes women longer to pay off their student debt because they
still earn only 82 cents for every dollar a man earns.
More time with student loans means more interest to pay and fewer resources to spend on other important life achievements, like buying a home or starting a family.
The coronavirus pandemic will likely worsen those numbers for women, according to a report by the American Association of University Women (AAUW).
Latina women earn nearly 50% less than white men in the United States
March 24, 202102: 09
CNBC interviewed AAUW Executive Director Kim Churches about the findings her organization made.
The conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.
CNBC: Why Do Women Take Out More Student Loans Than Men?
Kim Churches:
Women earn less than men and may not have as much upfront money to fund their education.
Some receive less help from their families and others have to cover the costs of care.
We know that women are more likely than men to attend
for-profit
colleges
and universities, where debt levels are higher, so that's a factor too.
[Unemployment soars in March due to the coronavirus: Latinos are the most affected]
How do we know that women must go through more work than men to pay off their student debt?
The difficulty in paying off student loans is reflected in default rates, which are higher for women than men, and
much higher for black and Hispanic borrowers than for white and Asian borrowers.
We also found that 34% of all women and 57% of black women who were paying off their student loans reported that they had not been able to cover their essential expenses.
Students pull a ball and chain representing trillions of dollars in student debt at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.Paul J. Richards / AFP via Getty Images
Why do black women take on more student debts and what problems do they run into paying them off?
The racial wealth gap is a major factor here.
The median wealth of white households is 20 times that of black households,
so black families have far less to contribute to a college education.
On top of that, there is the gender pay gap.
Black women earn just 63 cents for every dollar a white man earns,
so that translates to less money for education and a greater challenge in meeting student loan obligations.
How do you expect the pandemic to affect women who have borrowed from students?
We expect to see a large increase in the number of women who are unable to meet their student loan obligations.
Most of the layoffs we've seen have occurred in female-dominated fields, with
many more women leaving the workforce and still taking on the responsibilities of childcare and homeschooling.
If we do not address the student debt crisis, we will see an even greater setback in the advancement of women in the coming years.
Overworked women take risks to care for others
March 9, 202102: 16
Does the AAUW think forgiving student debt is a good idea?
Yes, we need student loan forgiveness and we are actively supporting a variety of debt cancellation proposals at the federal and state levels.
But debt cancellation alone is not the solution.
A generation ago, a year of college cost 22% of the median household income. That number has skyrocketed to 43% today.
The cost of higher education has really gotten out of hand.