College Access and Intergenerational Mobility

Hendricks, Lutz; Koreshkova, Tatyana; Leukhina, Oksana

doi:10.20955/wp.2024.030

Working Paper

College Access and Intergenerational Mobility

Abstract: This paper studies how college admissions preferences for low income students affect intergenerational earnings mobility. We develop a quantitative model of college choice with quality differentiated colleges. We find that admissions preferences substantially increase low income enrollment in top quality colleges and intergenerational earnings mobility. The associated losses of aggregate earnings are very small.

Keywords: college quality; human capital; intergenerational mobility; income-based admissions;

JEL Classification: J24; J31; I23; I26;

https://doi.org/10.20955/wp.2024.030