Black students are more likely to take on debt, borrow higher amounts, and struggle with repayment than their peers, because they generally have fewer resources to pay for college, thanks to the ongoing generational effects of systemic racism. This debt burden has far-reaching financial consequences, and many Black borrowers are unable to afford their monthly payments. Federal income-driven repayment (IDR) plans, which are meant to make monthly payments manageable, often do anything but and can be ineffective at reducing a borrower's debt burden over time. This brief looks at the ways that existing IDR plans are failing Black borrowers and highlights the need for Congress and the Biden administration to cancel more student debt, overhaul income-driven repayment plans, double the Pell Grant, and create federal-state partnerships to address affordability in a comprehensive way. It also focuses on the experiences of Black borrowers and the toll the student debt crisis is taking on them. [For a comprehensive report based on the study, see "Jim Crow Debt: How Black Borrowers Experience Student Loans" (ED617539).]