Article Summary:
Julien Berman’s op-ed in The Washington Post posits that higher education has become increasingly regressive, with wealthy students receiving significantly greater economic returns from college compared to low-income students. Historically, college enrollment provided similar wage premiums across income levels, but this is no longer true.
The primary driver of this disparity is a decades-long policy shift that channeled low-income students toward community colleges and for-profit institutions instead of four-year universities. Between 1980 and 2000, poor students’ enrollment in these alternative institutions increased dramatically, while rich students’ enrollment grew minimally.
These alternative institutions offer substantially lower value. Community colleges have low transfer rates, with only 16% of students obtaining a bachelor’s degree within six years. For-profit institutions provide even lower wage premiums. Additionally, colleges serving low-income students have experienced declining quality due to government funding cuts, resulting in larger student-to-faculty ratios and lower graduation rates.
The problem extends beyond institutional quality. Within universities, poor students are more likely to choose humanities majors with lower economic returns. Gatekeeping in high-value STEM programs further disadvantages low-income students, who often lack prerequisite educational resources.
To address these issues, the article suggests two primary solutions: 1) Research and private universities should expand access for low-income students; and 2) Universities should provide more transparent information about potential earnings for different majors.
Article Excerpt:
“The primary reason for the shift: a decades-long policy failure that funneled poor students away from four-year research universities and into two-year community colleges and for-profit institutions.”
“Community colleges exploded in popularity in the 1960s and ’70s. Seeing them as an inexpensive way to increase access to education, both Republican and Democratic administrations poured resources into creating two-year institutions that would — they hoped — get poor people to college who otherwise wouldn’t enroll.”