About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

55 Harv. C.R.-C.L. L. Rev. 131 (2020)
Student Debt Is a Civil Rights Issue: The Case for Debt Relief and Higher Education Reform

handle is hein.journals/hcrcl55 and id is 137 raw text is: Student Debt is a Civil Rights Issue: The Case for Debt Relief and Higher Education Reform Dalie Jimnez* & Jonathan D. Glatert For an ever-growing number of students aspiring to higher education, bor- rowing is essential. Yet the burdens of indebtedness disproportionally harm Black and Latinx students. Debt also undermines the meaning and effect of higher education access, enabling many who borrow to reach the middle class but still limiting possibilities relative to students who do not need to borrow or who borrow less-students who are more likely to enjoy relative privilege. This Article identifies ways in which student indebtedness works systematically to disadvantage those students who belong to groups historically subordinated on the basis of race, and thus provides more concrete historical and empirical grounding for reforms that would improve accessibility of higher education. The Article develops proposals for reform, including debt forgiveness and elimina- tion of public institution tuition, to promote greater equity in access. TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ................................ .................. 132 I. EDUCATION ACCESS AND RACIAL JUSTICE .................... 140 A. Higher Education Policy Choices Have Put Students of Color Further Behind................................ 141 1. Wealth and the Choice to Borrow .............. 142 2. Predatory Schools and the Choice of Post- Secondary Institution ............................ 145 3. Wealth, Racism, and the Choice to Repay ....... 149 B. How We Got Here and Why We Need to Get Out ...... 155 1. Student Debt Crisis as a Case of Policy Drift...... 156 2. Student Debt: A Threat to Democracy ............. 159 II. PATHS FORWARD ............................................... 161 A. Hobbled Civil Rights Paradigm....................... 162 * Professor of Law, University of California, Irvine. tProfessor of Law, University of California, Irvine. The authors are grateful for comments, suggestions, and criticism of early versions of this Article from Sameer Ashar, Ash U. Bali, Swethaa Ballakrishnen, Susan Block-Liebb, Devon Carbado, LaToya Baldwin Clark, Beth Colgan, Prentiss Cox, Sharon Dolovich, Blake Emerson, Stephen Gardbaum, Laura Gomez, Mark Greenberg, Kaaryn Gustafson, Jasleen Kohli, Stephen Lee, Lynn LoPucki, Rachel Mo- ran, Alexandra Natapoff, Frances Olsen, Jason Oh, Ted Parson, Keramet Reiter, Angela Riley, Kate Elengold Sablosky, Joanna Schwartz, Seana Shiffrin, Alan White, and participants at the Law & Society Household Finance CRN panel in Washington, DC and a UCLA faculty work- shop. We are indebted to Sejal Singh, Lindsay Funk, and Jules Welsh for their excellent edito- rial assistance.

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most