According to recent research conducted by the Federal Reserve, the total amount of student loan debt has climbed to a whopping $1.44 trillion, $260 billion more than our nation’s credit card debt. These statistics beg the question, “are the earnings after college worth the tens of thousands of dollars in investment?” According to the latest Survey of Consumer Finances, the costs of college have increased disproportionately more than the rate at which wages have increased.

While college tuition and fees have increased by 6.1 percent between 2013 and 2016, median wages of graduates have only grown 2.1 percent. African-American graduates are increasingly feeling the strain of tuition-income disparity. While the college graduation rates for black students has risen to nearly 30 percent, 81 percent will be carrying along debt with their diplomas.

This is partly because the majority of scholarships are given to white students, many of which target geographic regions with low numbers of black students. And according to a report from the Center for American Progress, not only are black students more likely to borrow, they typically borrow more.

This is because students from low- and moderate-income households can only afford to pay for 1 to 5 percent of all colleges in the United States. Statistically speaking, 27 percent of black students take out more than $30,500 in loans, while only 16 percent of white students borrow as much. On top of tuition and fees increasing, the states are gradually disinvesting from public higher education.

The unaffordable costs of tuition means that the average student leaves college $32,172 in debt. Using FinAid.org’s repayment calculator, the average college graduate would need to make $51,333 annually to pay that debt down over the course of 10 years. But according to Time Magazine, only engineering graduates make above $50,000 right out of school, with the average college graduate making $45,478 and the average liberal arts and humanities graduate making a mere $36,237.

College is becoming increasingly unaffordable to the people who need it most, and a majority of men now believe college isn’t worth it. On the bright side, more education correlates with higher earning and employment rates. So ultimately, for those of us in college, finishing school is critical. Taking out student loans without going on to complete your program of study can lead to a world of financial hurt.

Madison Myones, senior communication and rhetorical studies major