Inherited Wealth, Social Mobility, and College

 

This chart shows the fascinating pattern of inter-generational wealth and poverty in America. Of those raised in the top income quintile, 40% stay there while 43% of those raised in the bottom stay there. Also, a person raised in the top income quintile who does not go to college has a 2.5x higher change of staying in the top then someone from the bottom 20% who does go to college. Click through for a fascinating look at wealth and the effects of college.

–from mattbruening.com with data from Pew’s Economic Mobility Project

Student Loan Debt Reduces Likelihood of Buying Homes, Cars

Having student loan debt lowers the likelihood that a young American will purchase a home or car. Student loan debt is nearly inescapable and growing, increasing the chances that this trend will escalate over time.

–from The Washington Post

Income inequality and life expectancy

Not really a surprise, income inequality and life expectancy are related. From WAPO.

College Enrollment Expectations

NYT reports on survey from Moody’s that colleges and universities are experiencing lower expectations about enrollment.

Wonkblog Year in Graphs

Great series of graphs from The Washington Post. They asked their favorite “wonks” what charts or graphs were most meaningful to them in the past year. Chart above shows the Obama-Romney election and how increasing density meant increasing votership for Obama, decreasing for Romney.

More on Rising Costs of College

From WSJ, further confirmation of the rising costs of college, with a focus on the University of Minnesota. My views:
- I’m left not fully believing that the U of M will solve this issue.
- WSJ analysis is ok, but a business would analyze this with more tables and a “Pareto” mindset.
- I find that the for profit and non-profit models are challenged in education. I wonder if part of the solution could be found in a hybrid model, like a utility or co-op.

The Myth of Meritocracy in American Education

Fascinating article from American Conservative about admissions to the leading universities in America. Several memorable points:
- Asians have been under-represented in leading universities in the past twenty years. Asians are “the new Jews.” They’re striving and hungry, but not getting in because other ethnicities are getting in.
- Jews have been over-represented in the past twenty or so years relative to their demonstrated abilities, as shown by their National Merit Scholarship awards.
- Jews are over-represented as leaders of leading universities. Jews are also controllers of American media and the author alleges a connection between this leadership and the over-acceptance of Jews in leading universities.
- Wesleyan admissions policies denigrated, as were admissions officers in general.
- admission is based upon “leadership”, legacy, a liberal bias and connections, which often means parental potential to donate, as well as the personal interests of admissions officers, who are reflected as a low-paid, low-intellect group who might also be flight attendants (he loses me, and I’m sure others, with this sarcastic thread).
- author Ron Unz thinks an alternative admissions system would have an inner ring of admittances based upon pure academic ability and an outer ring based upon random lottery amongst a larger group who’ve met a academic hurdle.

Thanks to David Brooks for highlighting this article.

Rising College Applications

From WSJ, colleges soliciting more applications to get better applicants and to improve their “selectivity”.

Impact of College Major on Career Path

 

This chart shows the career paths of 15,600 Williams College alumni based on their undergraduate majors. One of the more interesting findings here is the diversity of careers that liberal arts graduates pursue versus scientists. The paths of a chemistry or biology major are significantly narrower than those of English or Political Science. Click through for a more detailed, interactive version.