UCLA

Student loan debt in the United States exceeds $1.5 trillion. The enormity of student loan debt has received extensive media attention, with reports presenting the sheer mass of student loan debt as a national crisis. Borrowing patterns among undergraduates indicate that this is a pronounced issue among Black students who are more likely to finance college with loans. Existing research purports that deficits believed to be intrinsic to Black students and their families are to blame for the disparate borrowing patterns along racial lines. This view is incomplete and focuses too narrowly on perceived deficits based on a white, middle-class notion of financial literacy. The purpose of this study was to provide a more complete view of financial literacy through the lens of 12 Black undergraduate students.

Using Critical Race Theory and an antideficit achievement framework results from this study suggest systematic and structural inequality contribute to divergent types of financial literacies along racial lines. Although different from their racial counterparts, the financial literacy of the Black participants interviewed in this study did not contribute to their indebtedness. On the contrary, using a unique set of financial literacies, study participants navigated the economic demands of higher education designed for their demise and downfall. Participants found jobs, scholarships, and other ways to supplement their financial circumstances reflecting their ability to offset the costs of undergrad. Navigating these costs is not always obvious for students. Higher education institutions should help to make the process of affording college more attainable for a diverse student body. One size fits all approaches ignore the unique needs of Black undergraduate students. Supports should provide the historical context of personal finances and practical resources for implementing money strategies for the specific college-going experience of Black undergraduate students. Recommendations from this study suggest students, families, and institutions can disrupt deficit-based paradigms of financial literacy and implement better financial literacy supports sensitive to the individual and group needs of degree-seekers.