Economic and social mobility redefining higher education for generational wealth Hakim J. Lucas

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lucas, H. J., author.

Series:

Virginia Union University Press (Lived Places Publishing)

Virginia Union University Press

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Educational mobility--United States.

Educational mobility.

Education, Higher--Aims and objectives--United States.

Education, Higher.

Historically Black colleges and universities--United States.

Historically Black colleges and universities.

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Edition:

First edition

Place of Publication:

New York, N.Y. : Lived Places Publishing 2026

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In Economic and Social Mobility: Redefining Higher Education for Generational Wealth, Hakim J. Lucas challenges the long-held promise that a college degree automatically leads to opportunity. At a time when student debt has surpassed 1.7 trillion dollars and many graduates struggle to build lasting financial stability, Lucas argues that higher education has been measuring the wrong outcomes. Instead of focusing solely on retention and graduation, he calls for institutions to embrace "living goals" such as home ownership, entrepreneurship, investment participation, stable employment, insurance security, and lifelong institutional support. Drawing on the social determinants of health, Lucas introduces the groundbreaking Economic and Social Mobility (ESM) framework and outlines nine determinants of generational wealth. By positioning Historically Black Colleges and Universities as powerful examples and proposing six new institutional metrics, Lucas offers a transformative roadmap that shifts the conversation from credentialism to long-term prosperity. This book is ideal for higher education leaders, policymakers, researchers, social mobility advocates, and anyone interested in the future of equity, opportunity, and generational wealth in American higher education

Contents:

Cover

Half-Title Page

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication

Abstract

Table of Contents

Preface

Introduction

Learning objectives

1 Social determinants of health and the turn to wealth

The gradient that changed everything

The social determinants of health: The full framework

The biology of inequality

Structural racism and the health-wealth nexus

COVID-19 as the unveiling

The turn to wealth: Why income is not enough

Intergenerational transfer: The engine of the gap

Higher education's missed opportunity

From causes to solutions: Establishing ESM

2 The nine determinants of generational wealth: Beyond the paycheck

Determinant 1: Education

Determinant 2: Homeownership

Determinant 3: Automobile acquisition

Determinant 4: Health insurance

Determinant 5: Life insurance

Determinant 6: LLC or business ownership

Determinant 7: Investment accounts

Determinant 8: Stable employment

Determinant 9: Lifelong support

The determinants as a system

3 Redefining the language of success

Words create worlds

What current metrics actually measure

The six new ESM metrics

1. Wealth Acquisition Index (WAI)

2. Living Goals Attainment Score (LGAS)

3. Generational Impact Measure (GIM)

4. Community Integration Rate (CIR)

5. Debt-to-Wealth Ratio (DWR)

6. Institutional Mobility Score (IMS)

The balanced scorecard for generational wealth

Objections and responses

Objection 1: "Universities cannot be held responsible for life outcomes"

Objection 2: "This is social work, not education"

Objection 3: "The data is too hard to collect"

Objection 4: "This will disadvantage under-resourced institutions"

From vocabulary to vision

4 Capitalism and federalism: The American contradiction

The contradiction

The correspondence principle

Capitalism as barrier: Market failures and exclusion

Capitalism as enabler: Markets, entrepreneurship, and ESM

Federalism and the uneven geography of opportunity

Debt as bondage

The global context

Navigating the contradictions

5 HBCUs as engines of economic and social mobility

Born for this

The historical mission

HBCUs and Black male success

The STEM pipeline

The support infrastructure

The paradox of invisibility

Case studies in ESM practice

From practice to framework

6 Knowledge-for-living goals: The new value proposition

The credential is not the outcome

The credentialist trap

Financial literacy as general education

Co-curricular pathways: From engagement to empowerment

Curriculum models: What knowledge-for-living goals looks like

Model 1: The integrated general education core

Model 2: The ESM certificate program

Model 3: The MSI innovation model

The new value proposition

7 Poverty, policy, and pathways to wealth

The betrayal

The financial aid crisis

Accreditation misalignment

Federal and state funding disparities

Policy reforms: The ESM agenda

Reform 1: Redesign student aid to reward wealth outcomes

Reform 2: Align accreditation with living goals

Reform 3: Federal incentives for ESM-aligned institutions

Reform 4: Income-based repayment tied to wealth milestones

Reform 5: Place-based interventions informed by the Opportunity Atlas

International comparisons

Closing: Vision without policy is fantasy

8 The economics of redemption: From debt to wealth

Redemption as a category

Debt as bondage: A five thousand year history

The racial architecture of debt

HBCUs as models of institutional redemption

Practical strategies: The economics of converting debt to wealth

Strategy 1: University-sponsored emergency loan funds

Strategy 2: Matched savings programs and Children's Savings Accounts

Strategy 3: Institutional homeownership pipelines

Strategy 4: Alumni insurance cooperatives

Strategy 5: Entrepreneurship microloan funds

The redemptive arc

9 Measuring ESM in action

What gets measured gets built

The four perspectives in full

Perspective 1: Financial-WAI and DWR

Perspective 2: Stakeholder-LGAS and CIR

Perspective 3: Internal process

Perspective 4: Learning and growth-GIM and IMS

Data infrastructure: Building the institutional capacity to measure

Institutional dashboards: Making the scorecard actionable

Implementation challenges

Challenge 1: Institutional will

Challenge 2: Data collection

Challenge 3: Political resistance

Challenge 4: Equity in measurement

Accountability as liberation

10 The American Dream reimagined

Whose dream?

The dream that failed

ESM and the dream redefined

Vision 2050

A letter to the next generation

The call to action

The dream as construction

Conclusion: Toward the university of the future

What this book has argued

The university of the future

A final call

Not survival, but thriving

Recommended projects, assignments, and discussion questions

References

Recommended further reading

Index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index

Description based on Publisher's website, viewed June 05, 2026

Other Format:

Print version Economic and social mobility : redefining higher education for generational wealth.

ISBN:

9781917503556

9781917503563

OCLC:

1592907311

Publisher Number:

10.62859/9781917503549 DOI