Making College Worth It: Understanding Risk and Reward in the Age of College-for-All

• In Event: 411 - Section on Inequality, Poverty, and Mobility Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 02. Education and Inequality.

Abstract

The wage premium attached to a bachelor’s degree is higher than ever. While going to college is a good investment on average, it does not pay off for everyone. For students who take out loans, delay time to graduation, or drop out, enrolling in college may even leave them worse off than they would have been had they not attended. This paper investigates the mechanisms through which some groups have lower returns to higher education than others. In the current high-risk, high-reward institutional landscape, low-income students are much less likely to reap the rewards of college. We draw upon 110 in-depth interviews in order to investigate class-based differences in how young adults and their parents perceive, assess, and manage risk in the higher education system. We find that working-class youth perceive college as a vehicle for escaping the risks of their present lives such as dead-end jobs and difficult family relationships. They make spontaneous choices about where to enroll and how to pay for it without knowledge, guidance, or preparation. In contrast, middle-class logics of college-going center on maintaining their privileged class position by securing entry into a selective university. This strategy is enabled by early investments of money, intensive networking, and exclusive knowledge. Middle-class parents negotiate with their children to protect them against choices that threaten to diminish their social class position.

Authors

• Jennifer M. Silva, Bucknell University

• Kaisa Elina Snellman, INSEAD