It’s that time of year again. Kids are heading back to college: packing up cars, decorating dorms, and hunkering down with textbooks (print and digital). But books aren’t the only thing they will be carrying. There’s also debt. A lot of it, especially for women. Here’s why.
Women now earn nearly 60% of all college degrees in the U.S., which means they carry about two-thirds of the nation’s $1.7 trillion in student loan debt (somewhere in the vicinity of $900 billion). They carry this debt into the workforce, where White and Asian women are still destined to earn about 83 cents for every dollar earned by a man. The gap is significantly wider for women of color: Latinas are paid 58 cents and Black women are paid 66 cents on the dollar.
It all adds up to much more than a financial burden. It’s a barrier to many things that come with earning power: comfortable housing, continued education, networking and growth opportunities. In short, the debt can easily become a barrier to leadership. In our industry, where we profess to value equity and inclusion, we have to come to terms with the burden that slows women down before they even get started.
She Runs It isn’t just talking about this problem. We are acting on it. One important way we’re doing that is through our Education Loan Grant Program, which helps pay down student loans for rising stars in our industry.
Thanks to our incredible community, we’ve already awarded nearly $1.5 million in grants. It’s helping women gain financial breathing room, build confidence, and focus on their careers, not just their bills.
And we’re just getting started. We’re now launching a year-long campaign with a bold goal: to reach $2 million more raised and granted by 2027. We need your help to get there.
We will be doing outreach to companies across our industry seeking donations (100% of which will go directly to a She Runs It member who applies and qualifies for a grant in the coming weeks and months. We will also be hosting Cocktails for a Cause in the Fall to raise funds. To donate today go to https://sherunsit.org, click on Partner with Us and then donate.
This isn’t just about reducing debt. It’s about removing friction from the path to leadership and clearing the runway for the next generation of women to rise. As UN Women reminds us, pay equity isn’t only about what’s on the paycheck—it’s also about the systems that shape access and opportunity.
Let’s lighten the load and fuel the climb.
