Post-Secondary Income Inequality in America
Date
2016
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Haverford College. Department of Economics
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Award
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eng
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Dark Archive until 2036-01-01, afterwards Haverford users only.
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Abstract
Significant research has been dedicated to examining the relationship between education and earnings. It has, for some time, been established that attending an institution of higher education increases earnings relative to not attending one. This increase in earnings is thought to help reduce income inequality and, even former secretary of education, Arne Duncan, proclaimed education to be “the great equalizer that overcomes differences in background, culture and privilege.” However, research has been limited in examining the earnings of students that attend the same school but come from different socio-economic backgrounds. This paper shows that there is a 20% difference in earnings among higher and lower income Title IV students (students that completed the Free Application for Federal Student Aid) and looks for characteristics of schools that have minimized that difference. The findings show that schools that provide more institutional grant aid are associated with a relatively minimized difference in earnings among Title IV students coming from different socio-economic backgrounds. Ultimately, the findings show that income inequality is in strong effect even among students with similar academic characteristics and slightly different socio-economic backgrounds.