Ties that bind? Family income dynamics and children’s post-secondary enrollment and persistence

We examine the relationship between family income dynamics—poverty, low permanent income, and income volatility—and high school graduation, college enrollment, and dropout among young adults using the Transition to Adulthood supplement of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. Our intent is to shed light on potential mechanisms driving the transmission of intergenerational advantage to help understand whether and how such income dynamics have played a role in the persistent gap in college achievement. We find that poverty and income volatility during adolescence is related to near term educational outcomes of high school completion and college enrollment. Some of this relationship is mediated by household instability coinciding with poverty. It also apparent that the timing of poverty spells during adolescence is vital. Poverty occurring close to the end of high school drives has relatively large deleterious effects on educational attainment.