Gains and Gaps: Changing Inequality in U.S. College Entry and Completion

32 Pages Posted: 3 Dec 2011 Last revised: 8 Mar 2023

See all articles by Martha J. Bailey

Martha J. Bailey

University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) - Department of Economics

Susan M. Dynarski

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); University of Michigan at Ann Arbor - Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy; University of Michigan at Ann Arbor - School of Education

Date Written: December 2011

Abstract

We describe changes over time in inequality in postsecondary education using nearly seventy years of data from the U.S. Census and the 1979 and 1997 National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth. We find growing gaps between children from high- and low-income families in college entry, persistence, and graduation. Rates of college completion increased by only four percentage points for low-income cohorts born around 1980 relative to cohorts born in the early 1960s, but by 18 percentage points for corresponding cohorts who grew up in high-income families. Among men, inequality in educational attainment has increased slightly since the early 1980s. But among women, inequality in educational attainment has risen sharply, driven by increases in the education of the daughters of high-income parents. Sex differences in educational attainment, which were small or nonexistent thirty years ago, are now substantial, with women outpacing men in every demographic group. The female advantage in educational attainment is largest in the top quartile of the income distribution. These sex differences present a formidable challenge to standard explanations for rising inequality in educational attainment.

Suggested Citation

Bailey, Martha Jane and Dynarski, Susan M. and Dynarski, Susan M., Gains and Gaps: Changing Inequality in U.S. College Entry and Completion (December 2011). NBER Working Paper No. w17633, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1967367

Martha Jane Bailey (Contact Author)

University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) - Department of Economics ( email )

8283 Bunche Hall
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1477
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Susan M. Dynarski

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) ( email )

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Cambridge, MA 02138
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University of Michigan at Ann Arbor - Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy ( email )

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Ann Arbor, MI 48109
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University of Michigan at Ann Arbor - School of Education ( email )

610 East University Avenue
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1259
United States

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