Student debt in the United States has had a disproportionate negative impact on black and Latinx borrowers. We argue that analyses of plans proposing student debt cancellation should therefore foreground their potential impact on racial equity. To do so, we use data from the 2019 Survey of Consumer Finances and model the impact of debt cancellation on four key policy outcomes (reach, impact on the most vulnerable borrowers, borrower wealth gains, and impact on racial wealth gaps). We examine universal policy designs as well as designs that incorporate an income eligibility threshold as a means of targeting benefits toward less affluent borrowers. We find that cancellation amounts ranging from $50,000 to $75,000 yield the most desirable outcomes, especially when paired with a relatively low household income eligibility cutoff at between $100,000 and $150,000. Such policies would cancel roughly half of all outstanding student debt without substantially expanding the racial wealth gap, while still reaching a large majority of borrowers and leading to substantial wealth gains, especially for black households.

美国的学生债务对黑人和拉丁裔借款人产生了不成比例的负面影响。因此，我们认为，对提议取消学生债务的计划的分析应该突出其对种族平等的潜在影响。为此，我们使用了 2019 年消费者财务调查的数据，并对取消债务对四个关键政策结果（覆盖面、对最脆弱借款人的影响、借款人财富收益以及对种族贫富差距的影响）的影响进行建模。我们研究了通用政策设计以及包含收入资格门槛的设计，作为将福利瞄准不太富裕的借款人的一种手段。我们发现，从 50,000 美元到 75,000 美元不等的取消金额会产生最理想的结果，尤其是当家庭收入资格门槛相对较低时，介于 100 美元、000 和 150,000 美元。此类政策将取消大约一半的未偿还学生债务，而不会大幅扩大种族贫富差距，同时仍能惠及绝大多数借款人并带来可观的财富收益，尤其是对黑人家庭而言。