Doctoral Dissertation Research: Why Has the Meritocratic Power of Advanced Degrees Declined?: The Role of Higher Education in Promoting Upward Mobility

University Of Kansas Center For Research Inc, Lawrence KS

Investigators

Abstract

Why has graduate education not facilitated greater social mobility while undergraduate education has? College is often thought to be the great equalizer because it promotes upward mobility. But the expansion of higher education may not ensure equal opportunity for everyone, especially when a growing number of people are acquiring an advanced degree. This project will study why the influence of family background becomes stronger among advanced degree holders while it is still weak among those with a BA/BS degree only. This study evaluates three explanations by studying the income levels of those with at least a BA/BS degree. These people may: 1) attain a highly-lucrative advanced degree such as an MBA or professional degree (vertical selection); 2) major in a non-vocational field of study at the undergraduate level and a profitable one at the graduate level, including health, law, and business (horizontal selection); or 3) complete education at an earlier age and have more years of work experience (cumulative advantage). The project will provide implications for families and educators concerned with the relative tradeoffs for investment in various types of higher education. The project will also provide implications for states and U.S. society generally in creating policies aimed at promoting useful educational investment. This project will analyze income returns to education for adults who achieve various levels of higher education. The project will analyze over 150,000 respondents aged 35-54 from the 2003, 2010, 2013 and 2015 National Survey of College Graduates data and the IPUMS 5% Census data with at least a bachelor?s degree and having a positive income. The project will use log-multiplicative layer effect and multivariate regression models to examine the extent to which vertical selection, horizontal selection, and cumulative advantage explain income level differences. The project will also study gender differences in these processes as well as how these effects have changed over time. The project will inform sociological theories concerned with social mobility and the role of social selection into various types of higher education in the United States. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.