Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

In this study, I investigate an arguably surprising source of decreasing relative racial mobility and increasing racial inequality in the United States: the system of higher education. In this paper, I argue that the system of higher education has become more stratified over time and its role as a source of income/wealth mobility is becoming increasingly divergent along racial lines. Using a large sample from the NLSY 1979 and 1997 surveys, I study racial differences in intergenerational mobilities across the last three decades. The key research question is: are mobility differences between minorities and whites greater among college graduates than among high school graduates and are these differences increasing over time? This is one of a few studies that explicitly model the role of college as a source of rising racial income inequality. As the federal government debates the new Higher Education Act, research such as this is timely to ensure that the effects of colleges in the racial component of widening inequality and declining mobility are factored into policy decisions. Results are forthcoming.