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The existing gender pay gap is a significant challenge for college-educated women. A recent report published by the American Association of University Women, "Graduating to a Pay Gap," examines women and men recently out of college.

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According to the report, among 2007-2008 bachelor's degree recipients who were employed full time in 2009, women earned $35,296 and men, $42,918. Even when men and women choose the same major, "women still often earn less than men do one year after college graduation," the report states. The report cites business majors as an example, where men out-earned women by $7,000.

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The report states that 27 percent of black bachelor's degree holders had more than $30,500 in loans, compared with 16 percent of white bachelor's degree holders. More black students who left school without finishing a degree cited student debt as the reason than their white peers - 69 percent versus 43 percent - and 74 percent of Latinos who opted out of attending college cited finances as the reason, the report states.

There are several factors that create these discrepancies. A higher percentage of minority students graduate with student loan debt than their white peers and - as the report points out - have higher rates of unemployment, affecting their repayment power.

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