Middle-class attainment in young adulthood: higher education, student debt, and racial wealth inequality.

This article examines the relationship between higher education, racial wealth inequality, and economic mobility among young adults in the United States, focusing on how post-secondary education intersects with the racial wealth gap and student loan debt. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth 1997 (NLSY97), it finds that while higher education is generally associated with middle-class status, Black young adults face greater financial risks, accumulate more student debt, and have significantly lower wealth than their White counterparts at similar education levels. The study highlights that racial disparities in parental wealth, income, and debt burdens contribute more to the Black–White middle-class attainment gap than differences in educational attainment alone. It also discusses how current student debt cancellation policies may provide some relief but are insufficient to close the racial wealth gap, emphasizing the need for broader structural and reparative policy interventions to address longstanding economic inequities linked to education and wealth.