Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-7qhmt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-27T13:48:10.759Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 6 - Inequities in US Higher Education Access and Success

Obstacles and Opportunities for Marginal Populations

from Part I - Encountering Marginalisation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 September 2020

Jacqueline Bhabha
Affiliation:
Harvard University, Massachusetts
Wenona Giles
Affiliation:
York University, Toronto
Faraaz Mahomed
Affiliation:
FXB Center for Health and Human Rights
Get access

Summary

In the United States, deep, persistent disparities in higher education outcomes exist by race/ethnicity and income. Inequities in college and university enrolment by race and ethnicity have narrowed, but access to economic opportunity is increasingly determined by programme of study and completion of recognised credentials, where serious disparities remain. Stratification of higher education opportunity by race and ethnicity and by income has been on the rise, exacerbating group differences in outcomes: elite, selective colleges are becoming less diverse while African American and Latino students are increasingly concentrated in non-selective two- and four-year institutions. Despite these dispiriting trends, there are reasons for optimism. Researchers and practitioners have made significant progress in testing and identifying institutional practices that can improve outcomes for students from marginalised populations. In addition, public and policymaker concerns about college cost, student debt and institutional performance are creating new openings for consideration of policies that can mitigate current trends.

Type
Chapter
Information
A Better Future
The Role of Higher Education for Displaced and Marginalised People
, pp. 129 - 151
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Allen, W., McLewis, C., Jones, C., & Harris, D. (2018, October). From Bakke to Fisher: African American Students in U.S. Higher Education over Forty Years. RSF, 4(6), 4172. muse.jhu.edu/article/704127.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Autor, D. H. (2014). Skills, Education and the Rise of Earnings Inequality among the ‘Other 99 Percent.Science, 344(6186), 843851.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Baker, R., Klasik, D., & Reardon, S. (2018). Race and Stratification in College Enrollment Over Time. AERA Open, 4(1), 128. journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2332858417751896.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Backes, B., Holzer, H. J., & Velez, E. D. (2015). Is It Worth It? Postsecondary Education and Labor Market Outcomes for the Disadvantaged. Washington: Center for the Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research. www.caldercenter.org/sites/default/files/WP117.pdf.Google Scholar
Bailey, T. R., Jaggers, S. S., & Jenkins, D. (2015). Redesigning America’s Community Colleges: A Clearer Path to Student Success. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baum, S., & Flores, S. M. (2011). Higher Education and Children in Immigrant Families. Future Child, 21(1), 171193.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Beaver, W. (2017). ‘The Rise and Fall of For-Profit Higher Education’. AAUP News. January–February. www.aaup.org/article/rise-and-fall-profit-higher-education#.XQ1Dg9NKh0I.Google Scholar
Bertrand, M., Halberg, K., Hofmeister, K., Morgan, B., & Shirey, E. (2019). Increasing Academic Progress among Low-Income Community College Students: Early Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial. Chicago: University of Chicago Poverty Lab.Google Scholar
Bound, J., Lovenheim, M. F., & Turner, S. (2010). Why Have College Completion Rates Declined? An Analysis of Changing Student Preparation and Collegiate Resources. American Economic Journal, 2(3), 129157. www.nber.org/papers/w15566.pdf.Google ScholarPubMed
Cahalan, M., Perna, L. W., Yamashita, M., Wright-Kim, J., & Jiang, N. (2019). 2019 Indicators of Higher Education Equity in the United States. Washington: The Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Higher Education.Google Scholar
Carnevale, A. P., & Strohl, J. (2013). Separate And Unequal: How Higher Education Reinforces the Intergenerational Reproduction of White Racial Privilege. Washington: Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce.Google Scholar
Carnevale, A. P., Jayasundera, T., & Gulish, A. (2016). America’s Divided Recovery: College Haves and Have-Nots. Washington: Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce.Google Scholar
Carnevale, A. P., & Cheah, B. (2018). Five Rules of the College and Career Game. Washington: Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce.Google Scholar
Carnevale, A. P., Van Der Wurf, M., Quinn, M. C., Strohl, J., & Repnikov, D. (2018). Our Separate and Unequal Public Colleges. Washington: Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce.Google Scholar
Carruthers, C. (2019). Five Things to Know about the Tennessee Promise Scholarship. Washington: Brookings Institution. www.brookings.edu/blog/brown-center-chalkboard/2019/05/06/five-things-to-know-about-the-tennessee-promise-scholarship.Google Scholar
Chen, X. (2016). Remedial Coursetaking at U.S. Public 2- and 4-Year Institutions. Washington: National Center for Education Statistics.Google Scholar
The Century Foundation Working Group on Community College Financial Resources (2019). Recommendations for Providing Community Colleges with the Resources They Need. New York: The Century Fund.Google Scholar
Chetty, R., Friedman, J., Saez, E., Turner, N., & Yagan, D. (2017). Mobility Report Cards: The Role of Colleges in Intergenerational Mobility. Working Paper No. 23618. Cambridge: National Bureau of Economic Research. opportunityinsights.org/paper/mobilityreportcards.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Child Trends (2018). Immigrant Children. Washington: Child Trends. www.childtrends.org/?indicators=immigrant-children.Google Scholar
Commission on the Future of Undergraduate Education (2017). The Future of Undergraduate Education. Cambridge: American Academy of Arts and Sciences.Google Scholar
Deming, D. J., & Walters, C. R. (2017). The Impact of Price Caps and Spending Cuts on U.S. Postsecondary Attainment. Working Paper 23736. Cambridge: National Bureau of Economic Research. www.nber.org/papers/w23736.Google Scholar
Eberly, J., & Martin, C. (2012). The Economic Case for Higher Education. Treasury Notes. December 13. www.treasury.gov/connect/blog/Pages/economics-of-higher-education.aspx.Google Scholar
Edgecomb, N., & Bickerstaff, S. (2018). Addressing Academic Underpreparedness in Service of College Completion. Texas Education Review, 6(1), 7583.Google Scholar
The Education Trust (2016). Using Data to Improve Student Outcomes: Learning from Leading Colleges. Washington: The Education Trust.Google Scholar
Federal Reserve Bank of New York (2019, February). Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit. New York: Federal Reserve Bank of New York.Google Scholar
Gándara, D., & Rutherford, A. (2018). Mitigating Unintended Impacts? The Effects of Premiums for Underserved Populations in Performance-Funding Policies for Higher Education. Research in Higher Education, 59(6), 681703.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldrick-Rab, S. (2010). Challenges and Opportunities for Improving Community College Student Success. Review of Educational Research, 80(3), 437469.Google Scholar
Goldrick-Rab, S., Kelchen, R., & Houle, J. (2014). The Color of Student Debt: Implications of Federal Loan Program Reforms for Black Students and Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Madison: Hope Lab.Google Scholar
Goolsbee, A., Hubbard, G., & Ganz, A. (2019). A Policy Agenda to Develop Human Capital for the Modern Economy. Washington: Aspen Institute Economic Strategy Group.Google Scholar
Hanushek, E. A., & Rivkin, S. G. (2009). Harming the Best: How Schools Affect the Black-White Achievement-Gap. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 28(3), 366393.Google Scholar
Holzer, H. J., & Baum, S. (2017). Making College Work: Pathways to Success for Disadvantaged Students. Washington: Brookings Institution Press.Google Scholar
Holzer, H. J. & Dunlop, E. (2013). Just the Facts Ma’am: Postsecondary Education and Labor Market Outcomes in the U.S. IZA Discussion Paper 7319. Bonn: Institute for the Study of Labor. ssrn.com/abstract=2250297.Google Scholar
Hoxby, C., & Avery, C. (2013). The Missing ‘One-Offs’: The Hidden Supply of High-Achieving Low-Income Students. Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, 46(1), 165.Google Scholar
Huelsman, M. (2015). The Debt Divide: The Racial and Class Bias behind the ‘New Normal’ of Student Borrowing. New York: Demos.Google Scholar
Huelsman, M. (2018). Debt to Society: The Case for Bold, Equitable Student Loan Cancellation and Reform. New York: Demos.Google Scholar
Jaggers, S. S., & Stacey, G. W. (2014). What We Know about Developmental Education Outcomes. New York: Community College Research Center, Teachers College, Columbia University.Google Scholar
Kelchen, R. (2018). Higher Education Accountability. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McKay, K. L., & Kingsbury, D. (2019). Student Loan Cancellation: Assessing Strategies to Boost Financial Security and Economic Growth. Washington: The Aspen Institute.Google Scholar
Miller, B. (2017). New Federal Data Show a Student Loan Crisis for African American Borrowers. Washington: Center For American Progress. www.americanprogress.org/issues/education-postsecondary/news/2017/10/16/440711/new-federal-data-show-student-loan-crisis-african-american-borrowers.Google Scholar
Miller-Adams, M. (2019). What Can States Learn from Local College Promise Programs? Washington: College Promise. www.Collegepromise.org/cp-resources/policy-brief-what-can-states-learn-from-local-College-promise-programs.Google Scholar
Page, L. C., & Scott-Clayton, J. (2015). Improving College Access in the United States: Barriers and Policy Responses. NBER Working Paper 21781. Cambridge: National Bureau of Economic Research. www.nber.org/papers/w21781.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pew Research Center (2019, June). Key Findings about U.S. Immigrants. www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/06/17/key-findings-about-u-s-immigrants.Google Scholar
Schak, O., Metzger, I., Bass, J., McCann, C., & English, J. (2017). Developmental Education: Challenges and Strategies for Reform. Washington: U.S. Department of Education. www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/opepd/education-strategies.pdf.Google Scholar
Schanzenbach, D. W., Bauer, L., & Breitwieser, D. (2017). Eight Economic Facts on Higher Education. April 26. Washington: Brookings Institution. www.brookings.edu/research/eight-economic-facts-on-higher-education.Google Scholar
Schwartz, D., Strawn, J., & Sarna, M. (2018). Career Pathways Research and Evaluation Synthesis. Washington: Abt Associates.Google Scholar
Scott-Clayton, J., & Li, J. (2016). Black-White Disparity in Student Loan Debt More than Triples after Graduation. Evidence Speaks Reports 2(3). Washington: Brookings Institution.Google Scholar
Scott-Clayton, J. (2018). The Looming Student Loan Crisis Is Worse than We Thought. Washington: The Brookings Institution. www.brookings.edu/research/the-looming-student-loan-default-crisis-is-worse-than-we-thought.Google Scholar
Scrivener, S., Weiss, M., Ratledge, A., Rudd, T., Sommo, C. S., & Fresques, H. (2015). Doubling Graduation Rates: Three-Year Effects of CUNY’s Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP) for Developmental Education Students. New York: MDRC.Google Scholar
Stevens, A. H. (2019). What Works in Career and Technical Education? A Review of Evidence and Suggested Policy Directions. Washington: Aspen Institute. www.aspeninstitute.org/longform/expanding-economic-opportunity-for-more-americans/what-works-in-career-and-technical-education-cte-a-review-of-evidence-and-suggested-policy-directions.Google Scholar
Taylor, B. J., & Cantwell, B. (2019). Unequal Higher Education: Wealth, Status and Student Opportunity. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.Google Scholar
The Institute for College Access and Success (2019). Casualties of College Debt: What Data Show and Experts Say about Who Defaults and Why. Washington: TICAS.Google Scholar
The Institute for College Access and Success (2019). Inequitable Funding, Inequitable Results: Racial Disparities at Public Colleges. Washington: TICAS.Google Scholar
The Institute for College Access and Success (2019). What to Know about the Gainful Employment Rule. Washington: TICAS.Google Scholar
Thelin, J. R. (2011). A History of American Higher Education: Second Edition. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Education. Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development (2016). Advancing Diversity and Inclusion in Higher Education. www2.ed.gov/rschstat/research/pubs/advancing-diversity-inclusion.pdf.Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Education. National Center for Educational Statistics (2015). Digest of Educational Statistics 2014. nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/2014menu_tables.asp.Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Education. National Center for Educational Statistics (2016). Digest of Educational Statistics 2015. nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/2015menu_tables.asp.Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Education. National Center for Education Statistics (2018). Digest of Education Statistics 2016. nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d16/ch_3.asp.Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Education. National Center for Education Statistics (2019). Enrollment and Employees in Postsecondary Institutions, Fall 2017. nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2019021rev.Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Education. National Center for Education Statistics (2019). Fast Facts: Historically Black Colleges and Universities. nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=667.Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Education (2019). Tribal Colleges and Universities. sites.ed.gov/whiaiane/tribes-tcus/tribal-Colleges-and-universities.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×