(NNPA)—Across the U.S., another group of Black students have earned their college degrees this month, and have progressed to the next stage in their lives. But they do so carrying the burden of greater debt than their White peers, according to a new study conducted by The College Board’s Advocacy and Policy Center.

The study revealed that 27 percent of Black bachelor’s degree recipients in 2007-2008 borrowed $30,500 or more compared to 16 percent of Whites, 14 percent of Latinos/Hispanics and 9 percent of Asians.

IRVINE, Calif. (AP)—If campus activism still brings to mind peace signs, a sea of White faces and liberal strongholds like Berkeley, meet Jesse Cheng.

Cheng is a third-year Asian-American studies major at the University of California, Irvine, a campus less than five decades old in the middle of Orange County, a place of strip malls and subdivisions that gave birth to the ultraconservative John Birch Society. He is part of a growing movement of minority students rallying around a new cause—fighting a budget crisis that’s undermining access to higher education at a time when students of color have become a stronger demographic force.

by Martha Irvine

CHICAGO (AP)—Bria Fleming has been through a lot in the last year, including her mother’s hospitalization and job loss and a fire in their home. It’d be enough to get most 18-year-olds down.

But the Black high school student is surprisingly optimistic about the future and her chances for a better life—an attitude common among her African-American peers, according to a new nationwide survey of high school students.

This summer, rising middle school students in the Pittsburgh Public School District have been invited to a free five-week summer camp. The day-long camp, funded through stimulus dollars, will be focused around literacy.

“We are fortunate to be able to use the American Recovery Reinvestment Act funds for this,” said Allison McLeod, project manager. “What a great way to invest in our kids and keep kids learning in the summer. It’s a great time to do some fun activities and enrichment learning.”

The camp is another component of the district’s push to prepare students to take advantage of the Pittsburgh Promise, which provides scholarships for students pursuing secondary education. With literacy curriculum in the morning and educational extra circulars in the afternoon, the district hopes students will begin to develop a stronger passion for education.