Outstanding student loan debt in the United States surpassed $1.6 trillion this year, and research indicates that people across various industries are struggling to pay it off. Student loans can be particularly burdensome for teachers, who experience a pay penalty because they are not paid the same compared to other similarly educated professionals. The troubling statistics on the state of racial and ethnic diversity in the nation's teaching profession are well researched. However, it is less commonly understood that student loan debt could be a barrier to increasing racial diversity in the profession.
A Financial Barrier
All students benefit from a racially diverse teaching workforce that reflects the rich diversity of the U.S. population. Research shows that access to a same-race teacher is associated with positive achievement outcomes in reading and math for nonwhite students (Egalite, Kisidab, and Winters, 2015). However, research also shows that Black and Latinx teachers are more likely to not only borrow federal student loans for their undergraduate and graduate education, but also may have difficulty paying these loans off.
My research with colleagues at the Center for American Progress (CAP) indicates that student loan debt may be a barrier to recruiting and retaining racially diverse educators in the teaching profession. Our analysis found that Black and Latinx teachers are more likely to take out federal student loans for their graduate and undergraduate education and borrow more federal student loan money than their white peers. The chart below shows that 88 percent of Black teachers and 76 percent of Latinx teachers used federal student loans to pay for college, compared with 73 percent of white teachers.
Figure 1. Black or African Americans who taught or were trained to teach were more likely to borrow federal student loans for their undergraduate education
Percent of cohort who borrowed federal student loans for undergraduate school, by race and ethnicity
Source: National Center for Education Statistics, "Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudnal Study" (last accessed June 2019).
Note: "!" indicates data that should be interpreted with caution: The estimate is unstable because the standard error represents more than 30 percent of the estimate. "!!" indicates data that should be interpreted with caution: The estimate is unstable because the standard error represents more than 50 percent of the estimate. The names of the variables used in this table are: B1FDOWE1, B1TEACHR, B1PIPLN, AND RACE2. The weight variable used in this table is WTE000. Figures are rounded to the nearest whole number. Precise numbers are available through the author upon request.
Research indicates that undergraduate students were less likely to choose public interest jobs with lower pay, particularly in education, when they had student loan debt. With higher student loan debt, students are more likely to pursue careers with higher pay. This means that to increase the racial diversity of the U.S. teaching workforce, interventions focused on reducing debt, particularly for students of color, may be effective.
Strategies for Reducing Student Loan Debt
There are a number of strategies that states and school districts can implement to reduce student loan debt for racially diverse teachers.
- Establish a teacher diversity taskforce: Teachers and school leaders can advocate for a taskforce of local experts who conduct a landscape analysis of teacher diversity within the state, highlight some of the key barriers to recruitment and retention of teachers of color, and provide a set of recommendations. These recommendations should include programs that address student loan debt.
- Offer district- or state-based student grants and loan forgiveness programs: Student grants and loan forgiveness programs can be a recruitment tool to attract and retain a more diverse teacher candidate pool. For a profession that pays less than others upon entry, these programs may be an incentive for candidates who are concerned about student loan debt to enter and stay in the profession.
- Support minority-serving institutions: Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) graduate approximately <LINK URL="http://www.jstor.org/stable/41341128" LINKTARGET="_blank">50 percent of the nation's African American teachers</LINK> with bachelor's degrees. Collectively, minority-serving institutions (MSIs) award only 11 percent of the nation's bachelor's degrees in education, yet they produce <LINK URL="https://www.educatordiversity.org/" LINKTARGET="_blank">more than 50 percent of the bachelor's degrees</LINK> earned in education by Hispanic, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander students. Educator preparation programs at these institutions of higher education are already disproportionately educating the nation's teachers of color. These programs deserve better funding so they can continue producing the teachers of color needed in our nation's classrooms. Students attending these programs also need financial support so that they don't enter teaching with a lot of debt.
- Create or expand high-quality alternative certification programs: High-quality alternative certification programs focusing on increasing teacher diversity can be an effective tool for attracting and retaining teachers of color. Research shows that teachers of color are more likely to enter the teaching profession. Participants in these programs often incur less debt. These programs can also improve retention rates if they are high-quality and adequately prepare candidates for the reality of teaching and teach them to be successful in the classroom.
Student loan debt is a concern for many working professionals but can be particularly burdensome for teachers entering a profession that pays less than other careers requiring similar education. Due to the racial wealth gap, lower pay can deter Black and Latinx graduates who are more likely to have student loan debt. Programs that ease student loan debt could remove a key barrier to increasing racial diversity in the teaching profession.
