Families Post-secondary Education
Topic Post-secondary Education

College or an equivalent postsecondary credential remain the hallmark of “successful” investment in human capital and preparation for a high-skilled U.S. labor market, yet college access and completion rates are highly unequal by race, family economic background, and other demographic indicators. Moreover, the cost of college has skyrocketed such that student debt burdens threaten to make investments in postsecondary education less economically valuable and less viable for lower-income students than in the past. Equitable Growth is growing the evidence base for how postsecondary education serves as both an accelerator of and a mediator of economic inequalities, and looking for solutions that make lifelong investments in human capital via postsecondary education viable for all.

Featured work

working paper

Socioeconomic Diversity of Economics PhDs

Inequality & MobilityFamilies
Boosting Wages

U.S. labor markets require a new approach to higher education

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A college degree is not the solution to U.S. wage inequality

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The rising number of U.S. households with burdensome student debt calls for a federal response

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Diversity in Economics video series uplifts diverse voices and research in economics and social sciences

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Worker power and pay quality for young workers without a college degree in the United States

LaborInequality & MobilityFamilies

Explore Content in Post-secondary Education61

grant

School-to-Work Pathway and Racial/Ethnic Inequality among College Graduates

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U.S. labor markets require a new approach to higher education

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Boosting Wages

Public investments in social insurance, education, and child care can overcome market failures to promote family and economic well-being

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grant

The impact of a tuition credit program on Pell-eligible student outcomes

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A college degree is not the solution to U.S. wage inequality

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Expert Focus

Expert Focus: Leading Black scholars on U.S. economic inequality and growth

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Vision 2020

Promote economic and racial justice: Eliminate student loan debt and establish a right to higher education across the United States

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Higher education is not the U.S. mobility engine it could be because admissions practices are rigging the system

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The student loan crisis is fueled by a weak labor market

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College may not be the great equalizer across race and ethnicity

Inequality & MobilityFamilies
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How other nations handle student debt and what the United States could learn from them

FamiliesTax & Macroeconomics
Past Event

Seminar Series: Student loans and the labor market (Invitation Only)

LaborTax & MacroeconomicsFamilies
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