College attendance in the United States has dramatically increased from under 10% to over 60% over the past century. However, a recent study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research highlights a persistent issue: the majority of students at elite universities continue to hail from affluent families.
The researchers analyzed a dataset comprising records from 2.5 million students across 65 prestigious colleges over the last hundred years. Their findings reveal that in the 1920s, only 8% of college students came from families in the bottom 20% of the income distribution. Fast forward to today, and this figure has only marginally increased to 13% for male students and 20% for female students from low-income backgrounds.
Notably, elite institutions like Harvard and Yale have maintained a stark statistic: only 5% of their student bodies come from the bottom income quintile, a figure that has remained unchanged for a century. This trend is consistent across other Ivy League schools and leading institutions such as MIT, Stanford, the University of Chicago, and Duke University.
In contrast, public universities have seen a more significant rise in low-income student enrollment. For instance, at the University of California, Berkeley, the percentage of low-income students grew from 3% in the 1920s to 10% by the early 2000s.
The study also noted that while enrollment of upper-income students at elite colleges decreased post-World War II, it rebounded significantly after the 1980s. Before WWII, approximately 70% of students at private elite colleges were from families in the top income bracket; this number dropped to around 50% after the war but has since returned to pre-war levels.
Despite these shifts, the representation of lower- and middle-income students at Ivy League schools has remained stagnant, with gains in low-income enrollment occurring at the expense of middle-income students.
In terms of diversity, while economic representation has not improved, racial and geographic diversity has seen some progress. Before the 1960s, elite colleges were predominantly white; however, Black student enrollment has risen to about 7%, remaining stable over time. Interestingly, elite public institutions have experienced a decline in Black student enrollment since the early 2000s, whereas private elite schools have maintained their numbers.
International student enrollment has surged from under 5% before the 1950s to around 15% in private colleges today. Additionally, the proportion of students coming from outside their college's geographic region has increased significantly, from about 30% to roughly 60%.
In conclusion, the researchers assert that two pivotal policy changes—the G.I. Bill following WWII and standardized testing for admissions—have had limited impact on enhancing lower—and middle-income representation at elite colleges.