Blacks with graduate degrees live longer lives | theGrio

Blacks with graduate degrees live longer lives | theGrio: Here’s some motivation as students head back to campus this fall. For black students, adding degrees to your resume can also add years to your life. According to a study in the August issue of Health Affairs, black women and men with less than 12 years of education are living ten to 14 years less, respectively, than their white counterparts with 16 or more years of education.

For black males in 2008, the life expectancy was age 66 for those without a high school diploma. But a bachelor’s degree or higher can extend their life by ten years. For a black female, the life expectancy goes from age 74 to age 80 for those women with advanced degrees.

“Over the last couple of decades, almost all longevity boats have risen,” said S. Jay Olshansky, professor of epidemiology at the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health and lead author of the study. “But there have been some subgroups that have had a drop in life expectancy.”