This story looks at research by Martha Bailey and Susan Dynarski on income inequality in higher education. They compared the educational attainment of those born 1961-1964 to those born 1979-1982, by family income. In the latter group, they found that while 80% of 19 year olds from the top quartile of household income enrolled in college, only 29% of the those from the lowest income quartile did so. Worse still, graduation rates were lower among the poorer group — 32% of the bottom quartile students compared to 68% of the top quartile students.

More about Bailey’s work cited on growing income disparities in college enrollment and graduation >