During the winter of 2020, 47 single, Black women from across the United States participated in a qualitative study examining the role their advanced education played in their romantic, dating lives. Using Patricia Hill Collins Black Feminist Thought and Blau and Duncan’s Status Attainment Theory, the study evaluated the validity of the American Dream for Black communities when Black women are out educating their male counterparts at disproportionate rates. In the United States of America, college is positioned as the ultimate tool to ensure the American dream. Black women have been committed to obtaining higher education in this country for over a century, but because of slavery, segregation, discrimination, and exclusion based on race, gender, and class, their investment in their education has not been reciprocated and has resulted in their unique representation being nearly nonexistent in higher education literature.

With the education gap widening between men and women of all races, the gap is the largest among Black men and Black women, and many Black women are achieving financial and economic success without marriage. With the increased number of Black women pursuing graduate school and professional school, marriage is being viewed for successful white couples only. This study asks a representative sample: What is the true cost of education for Black women?