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Those who own small businesses and are behind on repaying their student loans are facing another problem, according to a new study.
About 800,000 small business owners may be ineligible to receive help from the Paycheck Protection Program, which was created in last year’s federal coronavirus relief packages. Those who have defaulted or are delinquent in repaying federal loans are ineligible for the loans to help small businesses survive the economic downturn during the pandemic, the Center for Responsible Lending found.
“This analysis confirms that the structural discrimination faced by people of color in higher education contributes to and reinforces discrimination in small business ownership and survival during the COVID-19 crisis,” the group said in the report released Wednesday.
The report noted that particularly hurt were self-employed borrowers of color, who, according to studies, are more likely than their white counterparts to default or fall behind on student loans. The group estimated that based on 2019 figures, nearly 500,000 self-employed borrowers of color may have missed out on receiving the small business loans.
