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Ability, Not Heritage: Why Expanding University Access Often Fails to Narrow Intergenerational Educational Gaps

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Many countries have established new local colleges to increase access to education for disadvantaged populations. However, many of these expansions have not reduced educational inequality. Drawing on evidence from a large-scale college expansion initiative, we find that increased college availability did not lead to a differential increase in attendance among students from parents with less education. Rather, the expanded access primarily benefited students with marginal academic ability. These results suggest that higher education enrollment is largely determined by inherent scholastic ability and that the expansion of higher education tends to attract students at the upper margin of this ability distribution.

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  • Åstebro, Thomas & Hällerfors, Henrik & Bergh, Andreas & Tåg, Joacim, 2025. "Ability, Not Heritage: Why Expanding University Access Often Fails to Narrow Intergenerational Educational Gaps," Working Paper Series 1538, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:1538
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    1. Noemí Katzkowicz & Victor Lavy & Martina Querejeta & Tatiana Rosá, 2023. "Schooling and Intergenerational Mobility: Consequences of Expanding Higher Education Institutions," NBER Working Papers 31906, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Suhonen, Tuomo & Karhunen, Hannu, 2019. "The intergenerational effects of parental higher education: Evidence from changes in university accessibility," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 195-217.
    3. David Card, 1993. "Using Geographic Variation in College Proximity to Estimate the Return to Schooling," Working Papers 696, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
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    5. Raj Chetty & Nathaniel Hendren & Patrick Kline & Emmanuel Saez, 2014. "Where is the land of Opportunity? The Geography of Intergenerational Mobility in the United States," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 129(4), pages 1553-1623.
    6. David Card, 1993. "Using Geographic Variation in College Proximity to Estimate the Return to Schooling," Working Papers 696, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
    7. Tora K. Knutsen & Jørgen Modalsli & Marte Rønning, 2020. "Distance and choice of field. Evidence from a Norwegian college expansion reform," Discussion Papers 932, Statistics Norway, Research Department.
    8. Andreas Bergh & Günther Fink, 2008. "Higher Education Policy, Enrollment, and Income Inequality," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 89(1), pages 217-235, March.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions
    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality
    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion

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