Separate & Unequal: How Higher Education Reinforces the Intergenerational Reproduction of White Racial Privilege

Clearly class is a powerful cross-cutting factor in explaining postsecondary differences among all students. Yet, controlling for income, race matters: taken together, lower-income AfricanAmerican and Hispanic students just don't do as well as lower-income whites. We find that white students (45%) in the lower half of the family income distribution drop out of college much less frequently than African Americans (55%) and Hispanics (59%). These lower-income whites get Bachelor's degrees at nearly twice the rate of African Americans and Hispanics and obtain many fewer sub-baccalaureate degrees. In particular, African-American students get substantially more certificates.Class and race overlap and are most virulent in combination. Along with many other researchers, we find that the reason for persistent racial inequality begins with the fact that African Americans and Hispanics seem to face barriers not faced by whites. Unequal educational and career outcomes for economically disadvantaged whites can be explained with variables like family income, parental education, and peer expectations. These same variables do not fullyexplain African American and Hispanic educational and economic outcomes. Earlier research shows income effects are more fully explained by observable things, like peer group and tutoring, while differences by race are not so easy to pin down. The preponderance of evidence supports the premise that the disadvantages of race and income must be considered separately in most cases. Yes, differences in readiness and income explain differences in academic and life outcomes; but, independently, so do race and ethnicity

Balancing Work and Learning: Implications for Low-Income Students

This report finds that while working and studying generally helps students from higher-income families, low-income students face steeper challenges when combining work and college

15 Million Infrastructure Jobs: An Economic Shot in the Arm to the COVID-19 Recession

A $2 trillion jobs plan (of which$1.5 trillion will go to infrastructure) from the Biden-Harris administration would be good medicine to nurse the economic wounds inflicted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The infrastructure plan would create or save 15 million jobs over 10 years and would increase the share of infrastructure jobs from 11% to 14% of all jobs in this country, temporarily reviving the blue-collar economy

Learning and Earning in Vacationland: Promoting Education and Economic Opportunity in Maine

Technological innovation, globalization and other economic forces together shape the structure of jobs and the way we work. Such forces have gained momentum over the last 40 years with the advent of a new economy that is increasingly reliant on skilled workers with a postsecondary education. This trend is evident in all sectors of Maine’s economy. In this article, Carnevale and Desrochers show where the jobs are in Maine and how the education attainment of those who hold such jobs has changed over the last 40 years. They look at where jobs will be in the future and the skills that employers want. They project that the forces fueling the demand for college-educated workers today will continue to grow, along with the income divide between those who have some postsecondary education and those who do not

Selective Bias: Asian Americans, Test Scores, and Holistic Admissions

Selective Bias: Asian Americans, Test Scores, and Holistic Admissions evaluates the common arguments made by affirmative action critics and Students for Fair Admissions, which is suing Harvard University and has lawsuits pending against the University of North Carolina and the University of Texas at Austin over their admissions practices. The report finds no strong evidence of discrimination against Asian American applicants in admissions to highly selective colleges

Race, Elite College Admissions, and the Courts: The Pursuit of Racial Equality in Education Retreats to K12 Schools

If the Supreme Court bans race-conscious affirmative action, as expected, selective higher education institutions almost certainly will become less diverse, reducing the rates of degree attainment among students from historically underrepresented racial/ethnic groups. This report explores the legal history of racial equity in education, evaluates alternatives to using race/ethnicity in college admissions, and considers changes to the K–12 education system that would improve educational opportunity. In the long term, the only way to ensure diversity at selective higher education institutions is to confront the segregation and inequity in K–12 education and society at large

The College Payoff: More Education Doesnt Always Mean More Earnings

The College Payoff: More Education Doesn't Always Mean More Earnings explores how lifetime earnings vary by education level, field of study, occupation, industry, gender, race and ethnicity, and location. The lifetime earnings of a full-time full-year worker with a high school diploma are $1.6 million, while workers with an associate's degree earn$2 million. However, at least one quarter of high school graduates earn more than an associate's degree holder. Bachelor's degree holders earn a median of $2.8 million during their career, 75$3.2 million over their lifetimes, while doctoral degree holders earn $4 million and professional degree holders earn$4.7 million. However, one quarter of workers with a bachelor's degree earn more than half of workers with a master's or a doctoral degree

What's It Worth? The Economic Value of College Majors

Analyzes, by college major, gender and racial/ethnic distribution, median annual earnings, likelihood of unemployment and advanced degree attainment, and occupation and industry, as well as earnings differences within majors by race/ethnicity and gender