美国国家公共电台 NPR Graduates Of Historically Black Colleges May Be Paying More

 

NOEL KING, HOST:

People who graduated from historically black or predominantly Hispanic colleges might be paying more to borrow money because of where they went to school. That's according to a new report from a financial watchdog group. NPR's Chris Arnold got an advance copy of that report.

CHRIS ARNOLD, BYLINE¹: A lot more people these days are getting loans from a new breed of lenders known as fintechs, or financial technology firms, and some of these lenders factor in where you went to college.

KAT WELBECK: It really raised some alarm flags.

ARNOLD: Kat Welbeck is the civil rights counsel at the nonprofit Student Borrower Protection Center. Her group decided² to run a test. They chose a fintech lender called Upstart. You can get a loan offer off its website. And they applied³ for dozens of loans online, posing as a 24-year-old man. They said he lives in New York, makes $50,000 a year.

WELBECK: The only difference was where he went to school.

ARNOLD: They applied as if he went to NYU in New York, a bunch of other schools and Howard University.

WELBECK: One of the most famous historically black colleges and universities in this country. And we looked at what would a borrower from Howard, what would they see if they applied for this type of loan?

ARNOLD: And then they compared. And they found that if you went to NYU versus⁴ Howard, for a $30,000 personal loan with a five-year term, they found you'd pay about $3,500 more in interest and fees if you went to Howard, a historically black college.

WELBECK: There is no other difference between these two borrowers other than the fact that one attended NYU and one attended Howard.

ARNOLD: The group found you'd also pay more if you went to New Mexico State, which has a high percentage of Hispanic students. In a new report called "Educational Redlining," the group says lenders may be discriminating⁵ based on what college you attended. We reached out to Dave Girouard, the CEO of Upstart.

DAVE GIROUARD: We definitely appreciate the intent.

ARNOLD: Girouard used to be a senior executive at Google and founded Upstart, he says, to use technology to make credit more available. Upstart, he says, goes way beyond looking at your credit score. There are more than a thousand factors.

GIROUARD: I mean, we're a company that, you know, our entire mission and the reason, you know, we get out of bed every morning is to improve access to affordable⁶ credit. So we are absolutely supportive of the intent that credit shouldn't be biased⁸ or unfair in any way.

ARNOLD: But Girouard says, basically, the test the nonprofit group ran doesn't prove that using education as a factor leads to discrimination.

GIROUARD: Using, you know, hypothetical, contrived⁹ applicants¹⁰ for a loan who aren't real people was, you know, both anecdotal and not reflective of the real world. And, you know, we're a company that has tested for fairness and bias⁷ over millions of applicants, and that's our approach to ensuring that our platform isn't biased against anybody.

ARNOLD: Still, the report raised the eyebrows¹¹ of some legal experts. Todd Baker¹² teaches a course on fintech at Columbia University's law school. He says the traditional credit score approach to lending has its own problems and biases¹³, and some fintech lenders' alternative approaches can help.

TODD BAKER: Using alternative data can be highly beneficial, but also has dangers. And we need to be very vigilant¹⁴ that we don't recreate some of the problematic practices of the past unintentionally.

ARNOLD: Advocates are increasingly worried that casting such a wide net for data to make decisions introduces biases in new and different ways. Welbeck says her group is pushing for better oversight¹⁵ and more transparency from fintech companies.

Chris Arnold, NPR News.

1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

3 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

4 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
• The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。

5 discriminating   

a.有辨别能力的

参考例句：

• Due caution should be exercised in discriminating between the two. 在区别这两者时应该相当谨慎。
• Many businesses are accused of discriminating against women. 许多企业被控有歧视妇女的做法。

6 affordable   

adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的

参考例句：

• The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
• There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。

7 bias   

n.偏见，偏心，偏袒；vt.使有偏见

参考例句：

• They are accusing the teacher of political bias in his marking.他们在指控那名教师打分数有政治偏见。
• He had a bias toward the plan.他对这项计划有偏见。

8 biased   

a.有偏见的

参考例句：

• a school biased towards music and art 一所偏重音乐和艺术的学校
• The Methods: They employed were heavily biased in the gentry's favour. 他们采用的方法严重偏袒中上阶级。

9 contrived   

adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的

参考例句：

• There was nothing contrived or calculated about what he said.他说的话里没有任何蓄意捏造的成分。
• The plot seems contrived.情节看起来不真实。

10 applicants   

申请人，求职人( applicant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There were over 500 applicants for the job. 有500多人申请这份工作。
• He was impressed by the high calibre of applicants for the job. 求职人员出色的能力给他留下了深刻印象。

11 eyebrows   

眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Eyebrows stop sweat from coming down into the eyes. 眉毛挡住汗水使其不能流进眼睛。
• His eyebrows project noticeably. 他的眉毛特别突出。

12 baker   

n.面包师

参考例句：

• The baker bakes his bread in the bakery.面包师在面包房内烤面包。
• The baker frosted the cake with a mixture of sugar and whites of eggs.面包师在蛋糕上撒了一层白糖和蛋清的混合料。

13 biases   

偏见( bias的名词复数 )； 偏爱； 特殊能力； 斜纹

参考例句：

• Stereotypes represent designer or researcher biases and assumptions, rather than factual data. 它代表设计师或者研究者的偏见和假设，而不是实际的数据。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• The net effect of biases on international comparisons is easily summarized. 偏差对国际比较的基本影响容易概括。

14 vigilant   

adj.警觉的，警戒的，警惕的

参考例句：

• He has to learn how to remain vigilant through these long nights.他得学会如何在这漫长的黑夜里保持警觉。
• The dog kept a vigilant guard over the house.这只狗警醒地守护着这所房屋。

15 oversight   

n.勘漏，失察，疏忽

参考例句：

• I consider this a gross oversight on your part.我把这件事看作是你的一大疏忽。
• Your essay was not marked through an oversight on my part.由于我的疏忽你的文章没有打分。