Unequal colleges in the age of disparity / Charles T. Clotfelter.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Clotfelter, Charles T., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Universities and colleges--United States.

Universities and colleges.

College students.

Social conditions.

Economic conditions.

United States.

Universities and colleges--United States--Sociological aspects.

Education, Higher--Economic aspects--United States.

Education, Higher.

Education, Higher--Economic aspects.

Educational equalization--United States.

Educational equalization.

College students--United States--Economic conditions.

College students--United States--Social conditions.

College students--Economic conditions.

College students--Social conditions.

Universities and colleges--Sociological aspects.

Physical Description:

viii, 439 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Massachusetts : The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2017.

Summary:

It is commonly supposed that colleges help to reduce inequality by providing paths for individuals to rise beyond modest origins. Reviewing evidence from more than 1,000 colleges, elite and not, the author argues that baccalaureate education's power to reduce inequality has actually declined, because the colleges themselves have become more unequal. Unequal Colleges in the Age of Disparity describes the market for baccalaureate education over the last four decades, paying attention to both the demand side and supply side of the market. It is an historical analysis of a large and variegated industry, described in terms - such as "firm," "consumer," and "market power" - rarely applied to it, that explain this increasing inequality.-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Part I: Context

1. Unequal colleges

2. System, industry, or crazy quilt?

3. Snapshot, circa 1970

4. Outside forces

Part II. Supply

5. The inequality dividend

6. Zero-sum competition

7. Evolution in the core business

Part III. Demand

8. Scholastic segregation

9. Economic stratification

10. Sorting by seriousness

11. Sorting by belief?

Part IV. Consequences

12. Outcomes

13. Why it matters

Appendix: Table A.1 Shares by college category of total undergraduate enrollment in 1,157 four-year institutions

Table A.2 The dwindling share of places at elite colleges.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780674975712

0674975715

OCLC:

982088443