The Influence of Parents' Socioeconomic Status and College Rank on Earnings One Year After a Bachelor's Degree: 1993 Graduates Versus 2008 Graduates

• In Event: College Student Class, Mobility, and Access

Abstract

This paper explores variation in four-year college graduates’ earnings one year after graduation as a function of their parents’ socioeconomic status. I explore how these class-based gaps in earnings are different between the 1992-1993 and 2007-2008 graduating cohorts in the nationally representative Baccalaureate and Beyond dataset. The comparison between the cohorts indicates that having parents with a high socioeconomic status, and the resources associated with having such parents, was more important to “getting ahead” in regards to income in 2009 than it was 15 years earlier. Two economic and demographic changes that are important in explaining this phenomenon are the start of the economic recession and the increase in the proportion of the population that has a bachelor’s degree.

Author

• Serena Eliz Hinz, RTI International