Education, race, and health: The role of college selectivity and HBCUs

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

Abstract

Even among the college-educated, Blacks report worse health than whites. Racial discrimination and segregation are thought to explain these differences, but no one has examined whether type of college attended differentially predicts health by race. We use the High School and Beyond data to examine whether college selectivity explains Black-whites disparities in health. We also examine whether historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) differentially predict health among Blacks, and whether this is moderated by college selectivity. We find that Blacks report worse health than whites at midlife, and that this relationship does not vary independently as a function of college selectivity but does vary as a function of both college selectivity and HBCU-status together. Potential explanations for and implications of these findings are discussed.

Authors

• Sarah Garcia, University of Minnesota

• Evangeleen Pattison, The University of Texas at Austin

• Rob Warren, University of Minnesota

• Chandra Muller, University of Texas

• Eric Grodsky, University of Wisconsin