Hidden Advantage along the Pipeline: Wealth and Educational Transitions from High School through Graduate School

• In Event: Broken Links in the Pathway from School to Career

Abstract

While research has shown that wealth influences educational attainment, little work has examined wealth effects from high school completion through graduate degree completion. Using nationally representative data, we quantify wealth effects in comparison to other dimensions of SES. Through a set of sequential logistic regression models (“Mare models”), we find that wealth effects are separate from and at least as strong as income effects. As with other socioeconomic dimensions, wealth effects decrease at the transition to graduate school entry. Importantly, though, the wealth effect substantially increases at the graduate degree completion transition, a pattern not seen for other socioeconomic dimensions. Our findings highlight the importance of rising wealth inequality for a cohort who attended postsecondary schooling amid escalating costs.

Authors

• Wesley Jeffrey, University of California - Merced

• Christian Michael Smith, University of Georgia

• Laura Hamilton, University of California - Merced