You may be familiar with the gender wage gap. Collectively, women typically make substantially less money than males (about 75 to 80 cents on the dollar).
By putting money into their own higher education, women can reduce the gender wage gap.
The fact that 71% of female high school graduates nationally went on to attend college in 2012, compared to 61% of male grads, suggests that women have taken this piece of advice to heart. You’d think that figures like those would place women and men more on an equal footing.
But that’s not the case, regrettably. Women still earn less than similarly educated males, even after earning advanced degrees like an MBA. Furthermore, because women are less able to pay off their debt than men are, greater education disadvantages them by keeping them in debt for longer than males.
In a recent Bloomberg article titled “In 136 Years, Women Will Be Paid as Much as Men,” there was a mention of a study from the American Association of University Women. Maybe” claimed that since 2001, the nationwide pace of women’s wage catch-up had slowed.
Compared to men, women owe 21% more on their school loans.
The realities hurt. Women have 21% more student loan debt than men do among the nine million users of Credit Sesame. Men have an average student debt load of $32,616, while women have an average balance of $39,408.
We can identify a number of potential causes for the increasing student loan balances. It’s possible that women incur more debt than males do. According to one research by the American Association of University Women, men graduated in 2008 with an average student loan debt of $22,656 while women graduated with an average debt of $24,126.
Women struggle more to pay off bigger debt balances, which adds to the problem. The men had paid off an average of 44% of their student loan amounts, compared to the women’s average of 33%, according to a study of those same 2008 grads four years after they graduated.
The situation for minorities is worse. Even less likely to have made progress on their student loans during the same time period were women of color and Hispanic descent. Only 9% of the student loan sums owed by African-American women in the research had been paid off. The situation was the worst for Hispanic women; they only made a 3% influence.
According to a Bloomberg News analysis, women who acquire MBAs are more likely to have debt than men to be a year longer due to the gender wage disparity (which only widens with time after graduation). That study made the supposition that both men and women could set aside 10% of their take-home salary for paying off student loan debt.
Salary is the main consideration in this situation.
Women earn less than males do.
Already, the chances are set against women’s ability to make money. They balance their aspirations for a job with parenting and home duties. Even worse, girls receive less money for doing the same jobs as men.
The median annual wage for men working full-time, year-round jobs in 2015 was $52,247, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Women who held comparable jobs during the same time period had a pitiful median salary of of $41,754.
For occupations of equivalent length and significance, men were paid 25% more than women, to put it another way.
Minorities once more suffer the most. Do you recall the Hispanic and African-American women who graduated with the lowest debt repayment amounts? They likely make the least money, so that explains everything. The median income for African-American women was $37,110, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. With a median income of only $31,657, Hispanic women come in last.
The credit limitations for men and women show the differences in income. Income has a significant role in determining credit limits. Men’s average credit limits among Credit Sesame users are $8,809, while women’s average credit limits are $7,586. The advantage for men in terms of credit limits is 16%.
In other places, women take on less debt.
The good news is that women are less likely than males to take on additional debt. Men in the Credit Sesame community had greater vehicle loan balances. Men have an average auto loan balance of $20,336 while women have an average balance of $17,819.
Housing debt is another area where males incur greater debt than women. The typical male Credit Sesame user who has a mortgage is $192,954 in debt. In comparison, women owe $165,894 in debt.
Average loan balances are likely lower due to women’s lesser income and their ability to make payments, at least in part.
Our income information was obtained from the US Census Bureau. Only members with open and active accounts are included in the Credit Sesame statistics for each category (student loans, credit card limits, auto loans, and mortgages). The American Association of University Women provided the information on the graduates of the class of 2008 and their experiences paying off their debts.
