 It's only $20,000 of student loan debt is great, but it doesn't help all borrowers equally. See, while the average white male borrower in the U.S. carries about $24,000 of student loan debt, the average black female borrower has 60% more, almost $39,000 of debt. When you combine rising college costs and the fact that black women receive the least amount of help from family, it's not hard to see why. Black women also face a huge wage gap, making only $0.64 to white men's dollar, which makes it even harder to repay the loans. For generations, black folks have been told that education is the key to financial freedom. The average white male borrower today, especially for black women, that is not the case. In 2019, the median net worth of a single black woman under 35 was only $101, compared to $22,640 for a single white man of the same age. So you can see why.