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Title: College Expansion, Curriculum Choice, and the Sagging Middle Class

Citation Type: Miscellaneous

Publication Year: 2011

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Abstract: This paper analyzes the impact of college enrollment expansion on student academic achievements and labor market outcomes. When public policies promote "access" to college education, colleges adjust their curricula: Non-elite public colleges adopt a less demanding curriculum in order to accommodate the influx of low-ability students. This adjustment benefi ts low-ability students at the expense ofmiddle-ability students. At the same time, it reduces the competitive pressure faced by elite private colleges, as public colleges are now a less appealing alternative formiddle-ability students. Private colleges hence adopt a more demanding curriculum to better serve their high-ability students, again at the expense of middle-ability students. The model predicts that, during times of enrollment expansion, college educated workers at the high and low ends of the wage income distribution will see their incomes grow more than those in the middle. This prediction is consistent U.S. income dynamics from the 1960s to the present.

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Authors: Su, Xuejuan

Publisher: Emory University

Data Collections: IPUMS CPS

Topics: Education, Other

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