A study by the American Association of University Women (AAUW) found that women hold two-thirds of the outstanding $1.5 trillion student loan debt in America. Why does this debt discrepancy exist? Here are just a few of the reasons:
– The gender pay gap. Women currently make 82 cents to every dollar a man makes, and it’s far wider for women of color and for working mothers.
– Traditional female roles. We are conditioned to be helpers, healers and caretakers, and then severely financially penalized for pursuing those roles.
– Parents save more for the education of male children. A T. Rowe Price study found that 50% of boys-only households reported they had saved money specifically for their children’s education, while only 39% of girls-only households had done the same.
– The motherhood penalty. And it’s not just an issue of lost income — it’s lost experience and opportunity.
“Even when women do advocate for themselves, we pay a price for acting ‘out of role,’ and the response is often exaggerated,” Diane Bourdo, CFP®, president of The Humphreys Group in San Francisco, explained in The Simple Dollar.
As The Simple Dollar accurately states, “Women don’t have a chip on our shoulder, we have an anchor on our feet.”
Read the full article, “College Costs Women More — And We Aren’t Allowed to Get Mad About It.”
The Simple Dollar provides well-researched, useful recommendations and advice that empowers readers to make smart financial decisions. The website offers comprehensive guides on credit cards, investing, banking, insurance, and more. Founded in 2006, The Simple Dollar began as a community for people to learn and share real-life personal finance strategies. Today, the online resource helps approximately one million visitors per month. The Simple Dollar ranked as a Top Ten Personal Finance Blog on Kiplinger and in the Technorati Top Twenty for business and finance blogs.
