Mobility Matters: Where Higher Education Meets Transportation
13 UC Irvine L. Rev. 619 (2023)
64 Pages Posted: 17 Feb 2022 Last revised: 25 Apr 2023
Date Written: April 17, 2023
Abstract
Higher education has long been hailed as the key to social and economic mobility. And
yet, mobility itself is one of the greatest barriers to equity in higher education. Although
scholars and policymakers have thus far paid scant attention to the role of transportation in
higher education, this Article establishes why that oversight undermines educational equity.
Grounding its arguments in both interdisciplinary literature and rich original data from
a multi-year mixed-methods research study, this Article demonstrates how transportation law
and infrastructure affect college completion, disproportionately hindering completion for
students of color. It further argues that higher education law and policy exacerbate, rather
than alleviate, systemic transportation barriers for students, reinforcing education inequities.
This Article adds important dimensions to scholarship on both transportation and
higher education. By focusing on the interaction between two structural systems, it offers a
unique lens through which scholars can understand the complex landscape of higher education
law. Finally, this Article offers education policymakers a range of policy and programmatic
changes affecting transportation that can advance higher education equity.
Keywords: education, higher education, transportation, equity
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