$1.5 trillion in student loan debt is the price that over 40 million Americans are collectively paying for degrees from institutions of higher learning.

African-American students that attend or graduate from one of over 100 historically black colleges and universities leave with an average debt that is greater than their counterparts. While education is pushed heavily in minority communities, financial education regarding how to pay for college isn’t a topic that’s typically up for discussion.

According to a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center, African-American and Hispanic parents are more like than white parents to see a college education as essential for their children. For parents raising their children in poor economic circumstances, this mentality is linked to the idea that in order for their children to be a part of the middle class they must have a higher education. In comparison, white parents are more likely to already be a part of the middle class, therefore education isn’t needed for their children to get that status.

Having freedom of the mind is priceless, but obtaining it comes at what cost?

Demetrius Gilbert, the Associate Dean of Academic and Student Affairs at Shorter College, has transitioned from a life of being served as a student of a historically black college and university to serving students at an HBCU. Gilbert obtained a bachelor’s degree from Jackson State University, after graduating she received her master’s degree and went on to get a doctorate. Currently, she is trying to earn a second Ph.D. and has $160,000 in student loan debt that she has been paying on monthly since 2011 and it is still at $160,000, she said.

I will probably die still owing them, she said.

Gilbert graduated with her bachelor’s degree owing only $450 in student loan debt. After paying that debt off completely she decided to go back to school to get her master’s degree, even though she didn’t have the money to pay for it out of pocket. After graduating, with only $7,000 left to pay back from getting her master’s degree, Gilbert decided to go back to school again to get her Ph.D. This degree is the one that cost her the most.

Arkansas has four historically black universities, Philander Smith College, the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, Shorter College and Arkansas Baptist College, according to College Scorecard.

All four Arkansas historically black institutions and colleges have a higher median debt than the average $9,185, according to College Scorecard.

Because of this, students may have to borrow at higher rates at historically black universities than at other institutions, according to the UNCF report Fewer Resources, More Debt: Loan Debt Burdens Students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

Raven Cook, an educator at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and the founder for Foundations: Black History Educational Programming, attended the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff briefly before transferring to the University of Arkansas Fayetteville to major in African American history, she said.

“It’s an honor to go to (a historically black college or university), but it’s also really expensive,” Cook said.

Historically black colleges and universities are institutions founded during the Jim Crow era, or during segregation. In 1896, separate institutions and facilities were created for African Americans under the Separate but Equal doctrine, Cook said.

Today, African American students attend historically black colleges and institutions to become more connected to black culture or to experience it for the first time along with receiving an education, Cook said.

“It’s a very rich environment to learn about being black,” Cook said. “And it’s the subtle things, like always speaking to a black professor as they’re walking up or down the sidewalk, going to classes and hearing the subtle integration of black history with what you’re learning. The buildings you walk into are even named after black people sometimes.”

Some African American students, like Cook, might choose predominately white institutions or other types of colleges over historically black colleges and institutions because their degree program might be more focused there, or they might have better access to jobs, Cook said.

Philander Smith College a private historically black college has the second highest first-generation student loan debt at $20,000, $500 less than Hendrix University a private liberal arts college which has the highest first-generation student loan debt, according to College Scorecard.

Philander Smith College also has the third highest median student loan debt in Arkansas at $19,000, and the highest median and first-generation student loan debt for all historically black universities, according to College Scorecard.

Philander Smith College may have the highest median and first-generation student loan debt because it has an open-door policy, where students that may have not taken the ACT can attend, University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff alumna Patricia Swinton said.

Swinton graduated with her undergraduate degree from UAPB and went on to teach at Philander Smith College.

“A lot of the students that go are poor to medium income students that normally wouldn’t have had a chance to attend college if Philander didn’t reach out to them,” Swinton said.

On-campus students at Philander Smith College pay a direct cost, or what students usually pay to attend Philander Smith College, of $20,814 and off-campus students paying a direct cost of $12,564, according to Philander Smith College’s cost of attendance 2016-2017.

At the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, 2016 graduate Maranda Barris has over $40,000 in student loan debt that she accrued getting a degree in mass communications and theatre. Had she known more about scholarships she wouldn’t have applied for loans, however, her parents didn’t go to college so they couldn’t tell her much about the different routes there are to pay for school, she said.

At HBCUs, Greek life plays a large role in the college experience. During her time at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff Barris became a member of two Greek life organizations, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. and Tau Beta Sigma National Honorary Band Sorority. 

“I knew I was going to pledge and the money wasn’t an issue at all,” Barris said. “I worked throughout college and lived off campus, so that refund Check came right on time.”

“If I knew then what I know now, I probably wouldn’t have gone to school for what I wanted to do,” Barris said. “I wish I would have traveled the world and experienced other things I haven’t before. Instead, I was stuck wondering what and how I was going to eat in college, and even if I had enough money for books.”

Nearly 64 percent of historically black colleges and university graduates borrowed over $20,000 in loans in comparison to 37 percent of non- historically black colleges and university students. Four-year historically black colleges and universities cost on average $21,707, less than four-year non-historically black colleges and university, which are on average $30,108, according to the UNCF report.

Shorter College is trying to educate students about student loan debt, said Bryan Neal a sophomore at Shorter College.

Neal is a general studies major at Shorter College and is planning on going to either University of Arkansas Little Rock or the University of Central Arkansas after he graduates to get a bachelor’s in economics and finance. When he is done, he expects to have $30,000 in student loan debt, $10,000 of which from Shorter College, he said.

Neal thinks Shorter College is more concerned about education and what its students can afford. The financial aid department visits classes and has an orientation about student loan debt, where faculty warns students about taking out more than they can afford, he said.

This is not always the case though, 2013 Philander Smith College graduate Jeremy Williams reflected on his time at the college. Williams had a scholarship from Philander Smith as well as the Arkansas Challenge scholarship and was frustrated to find that even though he should have had enough to get a refund check he never received one. He had to take out student loans just to pay for textbooks, he said.

“It wasn’t a lot at first,” Williams said. “Probably like $5,000, I think. More debt came when I started getting my master’s. Which is what I’m in now because the more education you get the more money you have to take out to go.”

This is not an uncommon problem among historically black colleges and universities former RA and Philander Smith College graduate Tarai Rolle noticed from his experience at Philander Smith College. While he can only speak for his alma mater, many of his peers that attended historically black universities and colleges have come across the same issue with financial aid offices not educating students on how to properly apply and take out loans, or even when those loans have been taken out, he said.

This is because historically black colleges and universities are often smaller, with two to three people running a department that is trying to meet the needs of thousands of people. At Philander Smith College, where many students are on financial aid or are taking out loans, the financial aid department might be overloaded with work, Rolle said.

“I think is just overwhelming for them so they have to do their job as efficiently as they can and sometimes it’s just not done the best way,” Rolle said. “They just make sure they get the job done.”

Departments at historically black universities and colleges are typically not as large as predominately white institutions. Because of a lack of funding, grants and donations that larger institutions draw in historically black universities and colleges financial aid is its largest obstacle, Cook said.

“When I went to a (historically black college and university) I absolutely loved it, it was so much fun,” Cook said. “But I will say financial aid was a huge challenge for me, and I think there has to be a push on all levels to get students conscious of opportunities that they have.”

A way to decrease the amount of debt historically black colleges and universities and non- historically black colleges and universities is for federal policymakers to reshape federal student aid policies and programs to help students secure more resources, according to the UNCF report.

Cook thinks that politicians, and African American people, should invest more in education and historically black colleges and universities to make sure they stay alive. Efforts could also be made to find alternative housing for students that are more affordable to reduce tuition costs, and to give students a larger scope to live instead of just campus, she said.

“Every level has to have people committed to working to make sure HBCUs are really, really protected and valued as they should be because they are really special spaces that have kept us going for a long time,” Cook said.