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$1,600 $1,400 S1,200 $1,000 $800 S600 S400 $200 S FIGURE 8: Median Weekly Earnings of Women, by Race/Ethnicity and Level of Education, 2017 $1,462 $1,306 S573_$539 $627 $591 Less than a high school diploma High School graduate $663 $717 $ $633 Some College or Associate degree $9i $897 $1,031$1,090 Bachelor's degree • Hispanic or Latina ■ Black or African American • White (non -Hispanic) ■ Asian Advanced degree Note: Based on median usual weekly earnings of full-time wage and salary workers, ages 25 and older, 2017 annual averages. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2018b) As discussed above, the gender pay gap persists across education levels and is worse for black and Hispanic women, even among college graduates. As a result of the pay gap, women who complete college degrees are less able than men initially to afford college and then less able to pay off their student loans promptly afterwards. As a result, women pay more in interest and make payments for a longer time. Women take on larger initial loans than men, with black women holding more debt than any other group when graduating with a bachelor's degree. AAUW's research estimates that women hold nearly two-thirds—or almost $900 million—of outstanding student debt in the United States (AAUW, 2018a). Student debt and the pay gap mean that women have a more difficult time making ends meet while they are repaying their loans. In 2012, among students who graduated in 2007-08, women working full time had paid off 33 percent of their student loan debt on average, while men working full time had paid off 44 percent of their debt. Black AAUW • www.aauw.org and Hispanic women working full time are paid considerably less than men from these groups, and they struggle to pay off student loans promptly: Four years after graduation, black and Hispanic women had paid off less than 10 percent of their debt—much less than other women and men (figure 9). While repaying student loans, approximately 1 in 3 female college graduates experience difficulty meeting their financial obligations, compared to 1 in 4 men; more than half of black women with bachelor's degrees experience financial difficulties while repaying student loans (AAUW, 2018a). FIGURE 9: Cumulative Student Debt for 2007-08 College Graduates, by Gender and Race/Ethnicity Source: AAUW analysis of U.S. Department of Education (2015) THE SIMPLE TRUTH ABOUT THE GENDER PAY GAP 1 Fall 2018 Edition A-13 Total average debt owed, 2009 Total average debt owed, 2012 Percentage of debt paid off, 2009-12 Men $22,656 $12,793 44% Women $24,126 $16,105 33% Asian S19,687 $7,679 61% White (non -Hispanic) $24,479 S15,417 37% Black or African American S26,535 $24,116 9% Hispanic or Latina $21,626 $21,026 3% Source: AAUW analysis of U.S. Department of Education (2015) THE SIMPLE TRUTH ABOUT THE GENDER PAY GAP 1 Fall 2018 Edition A-13