Never, ever trust a reporter with a number:
A disproportionate share of the nation’s nearly $2 trillion in student loan debt is carried by women.
Sounds horrible. Until you look at their cited data.
Here’s the source they cite:
Women hold an average of $31,276 in undergraduate student loan debt one year after graduation, while men hold roughly $2,000 less, according to the American Association of University Women.
Motley Fool web site: Student Loan Debt 2024: Statistics, Forgiveness, and Outlook | The Motley Fool
31,276 versus 29,276 for men.
That’s 51.6% versus 48.4%.
Furthermore, 59.5% of college students are women (as of 2021), and 40.5% are men.
Women are more likely to finish college than men – meaning they are also more likely to take on more debt because they remain in classes for longer than men.
Consequently, the above narrow difference is not indicative of a terrible, horrible education debt burden being higher for women than men.
What percent go to private schools versus public universities? When I looked into “Who Reports the News” I found most reporters are young women who attended elite schools. That, though, is not a valid sample but it is useful for forming questions such as is there a bias towards women attending private schools?
I no longer believe anything the media reports. Not one word, and you should not believe their reports either.
