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Reducing Inequality In Higher Education: Where Do We Go From Here?, Ronald G. Ehrenberg

Working Papers

Differences in inequality in college enrollment rates across students from families of different socioeconomic levels have only marginally narrowed since the early 1970s. Moreover, students from lower-income families are much more likely to start higher education in two-year public colleges and public four-year institutions than are their higher income counterparts. Among students who initially enter four-year institutions, six year graduation rates of students from families with incomes of less than $50,000 are substantially less than the graduation rates of students from families with incomes of more than $75,000. Finally, at a set of our nation’s most selective private colleges and …