The Unequal Benefits of College Completion – The Role of College Context

• In Event: 4403 - Inequalities in the Health Returns to Education

Abstract

Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, we explore whether the health benefits of college completion vary by level of childhood disadvantage in early adulthood, and by race/ethnicity. We find that non-Hispanic black and Hispanic young adults from disadvantaged childhood environments do not realize the same physical health returns to college completion as non-Hispanic whites. We test the role of the college context in moderating this relationship, examining four characteristics: race/ethnic composition, socioeconomic composition, academic selectivity, and mobility. We find that disadvantaged minority students do experience health returns to college completion when they attend colleges with greater black and Hispanic student representation. Furthermore, the potential health costs of college completion among disadvantaged minority students is concentrated among those attending the most academically selective institutions.

Authors

• Lauren M. Gaydosh, Vanderbilt University

• Kathleen Mullan Harris, University of North Carolina