City University of New York campuses made a strong showing among colleges with the highest mobility rates, a measure of the percentage of all students in a birth cohort at a particular college whose parents were in the bottom 20 percent for household income, and who reached the top 20 percent for individual earnings. Seven CUNY campuses were in the top 10 for mobility rates among four-year public colleges with at least 500 students in the birth cohort, and five CUNY campuses were in the top 10 among two-year public colleges. Five historically black colleges and universities ranked in the top 40 for mobility rates among four-year private nonprofit institutions.
4-year public institutions
| 1. | City U. of New York Bernard M. Baruch College | $42,800 | $57,600 | 12.94% |
| 2. | City College of City U. of New York | $35,500 | $48,500 | 11.72% |
| 3. | California State U. at Los Angeles | $36,600 | $43,000 | 9.92% |
| 4. | City U. of New York John Jay College of Criminal Justice | $41,800 | $45,200 | 9.69% |
| 5. | Stony Brook U. | $73,600 | $60,100 | 8.41% |
| 6. | City U. of New York, New York City College of Technology | $33,500 | $37,000 | 8.33% |
| 7. | City U. of New York Brooklyn College | $52,200 | $44,300 | 8.07% |
| 8. | U. of Texas-Pan American (now merged into the U. of Texas-Rio Grande Valley) | $31,700 | $39,300 | 7.65% |
| 9. | City U. of New York Hunter College | $49,800 | $44,400 | 7.54% |
| 10. | City U. of New York Queens College | $63,300 | $48,200 | 7.14% |
| 11. | South Texas College | $23,900 | $27,500 | 6.91% |
| 12. | California State Polytechnic U. at Pomona | $80,200 | $55,100 | 6.83% |
| 13. | U. of Texas at El Paso | $42,400 | $38,400 | 6.82% |
| 14. | U. of California at Irvine | $92,100 | $60,400 | 6.77% |
| 15. | U. of Texas at Brownsville (now merged into the U. of Texas-Rio Grande Valley) | $26,400 | $29,800 | 6.64% |
| 16. | New Jersey Institute of Technology | $84,000 | $71,600 | 6.47% |
| 17. | California State U. at Northridge | $61,100 | $44,100 | 6.32% |
| 18. | U. of California at Riverside | $75,000 | $52,800 | 6.02% |
| 19. | U. of California at Los Angeles | $105,500 | $65,800 | 5.60% |
| 20. | San Jose State U. | $91,700 | $56,500 | 5.43% |
| 21. | New Jersey City U. | $51,600 | $41,200 | 5.32% |
| 22. | Texas A&M U. at Kingsville | $47,700 | $39,800 | 5.29% |
| 23. | Florida International U. | $66,700 | $46,800 | 5.22% |
| 24. | Binghamton U. | $104,400 | $65,700 | 5.09% |
| 25. | U. of Houston system | $65,700 | $45,400 | 4.91% |
| 26. | U. of California at Berkeley | $114,700 | $67,900 | 4.89% |
| 27. | Midland College | $58,600 | $35,900 | 4.84% |
| 28. | U. of California at San Diego | $111,300 | $65,300 | 4.83% |
| 29. | California State U. at Fullerton | $83,300 | $47,800 | 4.80% |
| 30. | Grambling State U. | $34,300 | $30,500 | 4.62% |
| 31. | Miami Dade College | $37,000 | $31,300 | 4.61% |
| 32. | California State U. at Bakersfield | $67,700 | $46,100 | 4.61% |
| 33. | U. of California at Davis | $109,400 | $61,600 | 4.44% |
| 34. | California State U. at Long Beach | $85,800 | $48,800 | 4.43% |
| 35. | California State U. at San Bernardino | $69,800 | $43,500 | 4.40% |
2-year public institutions
| 1. | Glendale Community College (Calif.) | $40,100 | $30,500 | 7.08% |
| 2. | Laredo Community College | $27,400 | $28,700 | 6.71% |
| 3. | City U. of New York Borough of Manhattan Community College | $33,500 | $31,900 | 6.14% |
| 4. | Texas State Technical College Harlingen | $29,100 | $25,400 | 6.14% |
| 5. | City U. of New York La Guardia Community College | $33,800 | $31,800 | 6.06% |
| 6. | City U. of New York Bronx Community College | $29,700 | $28,700 | 5.88% |
| 7. | Southwest Texas Junior College | $28,100 | $28,000 | 5.73% |
| 8. | City U. of New York-Queensborough Community College | $42,200 | $32,400 | 5.55% |
| 9. | City U. of New York Kingsborough Community College | $40,700 | $31,300 | 4.98% |
| 10. | Imperial Valley College | $34,300 | $25,800 | 4.82% |
4-year private nonprofit institutions
| 1. | Pace U. | $68,600 | $60,700 | 8.43% |
| 2. | St. John’s U. (N.Y.) | $69,200 | $58,900 | 6.80% |
| 3. | College of Mount Saint Vincent and Manhattan College | $94,800 | $67,900 | 5.78% |
| 4. | Long Island U. system | $59,000 | $39,900 | 5.54% |
| 5. | New York Institute of Technology at Old Westbury | $78,500 | $49,900 | 5.40% |
| 6. | Xavier U. of Louisiana | $63,100 | $48,400 | 5.26% |
| 7. | Tuskegee U. | $54,400 | $38,900 | 5.23% |
| 8. | U. of the Pacific | $96,500 | $59,000 | 4.25% |
| 9. | Howard U. | $76,900 | $49,600 | 4.00% |
| 10. | Fordham U. | $113,300 | $63,300 | 3.98% |
| 11. | U. of Southern California | $120,100 | $63,700 | 3.93% |
| 12. | Park U. | $65,300 | $43,600 | 3.87% |
| 13. | Saint Leo U. | $57,300 | $38,000 | 3.63% |
| 14. | New York U. | $130,500 | $58,100 | 3.63% |
| 15. | Mercy College | $50,700 | $31,100 | 3.52% |
| 16. | Embry-Riddle Aeronautical U.-Extended Campus | $92,400 | $65,600 | 3.48% |
| 17. | Barnard College | $148,000 | $56,300 | 3.45% |
| 18. | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | $141,000 | $98,500 | 3.40% |
| 19. | Fairleigh Dickinson U. | $87,000 | $48,200 | 3.33% |
| 20. | MCP Hahnemann and Drexel Universities (now Drexel U.) | $94,100 | $65,500 | 3.30% |
| 21. | Clark Atlanta U. | $54,500 | $35,200 | 3.30% |
| 22. | Rochester Institute of Technology | $95,700 | $62,400 | 3.27% |
| 23. | Adelphi U. | $96,300 | $50,700 | 3.26% |
| 24. | Seton Hall U. | $100,900 | $56,900 | 3.18% |
| 25. | Kettering U. | $100,100 | $85,400 | 3.11% |
| 26. | Morehouse College | $81,800 | $49,800 | 3.10% |
| 27. | Campbell U. | $69,900 | $42,700 | 3.09% |
| 28. | Loyola U. Chicago | $98,600 | $53,500 | 3.08% |
| 29. | Columbia U. | $169,600 | $75,300 | 3.07% |
| 30. | Iona College | $97,400 | $56,200 | 3.05% |
| 31. | Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute | $114,200 | $84,100 | 3.05% |
| 32. | U. of Rochester | $129,200 | $62,000 | 3.02% |
| 33. | Hofstra U. | $105,300 | $55,700 | 2.99% |
| 34. | U. of Miami | $110,100 | $54,800 | 2.98% |
| 35. | Clarkson U. | $94,600 | $73,300 | 2.97% |
| 36. | Saint Mary’s College of California | $110,500 | $55,200 | 2.94% |
| 37. | Bentley U. | $119,600 | $79,800 | 2.94% |
| 38. | Syracuse U. | $119,700 | $61,100 | 2.94% |
| 39. | Hawaii Pacific U. | $68,600 | $41,100 | 2.92% |
| 40. | Cornell U. | $143,300 | $79,800 | 2.91% |
2-year and 4-year for-profit institutions
| 1. | Monroe College (N.Y.) | $28,200 | $20,400 | 3.82% |
| 2. | ITT Technical Institute at Indianapolis (now closed) | $52,600 | $35,600 | 3.63% |
| 3. | Strayer U. at Arlington (Va.) | $52,700 | $34,200 | 3.15% |
| 4. | Anthem Institute (now closed) | $56,900 | $32,200 | 3.14% |
| 5. | U. of Phoenix at Phoenix (Ariz.) | $56,000 | $35,200 | 3.03% |
Note: The children in this study were born between 1980 and 1982, and their college attendance was measured when they were between the ages of 19 and 22, roughly in the early 2000s. Parental income is the average annual household total income before taxes and transfers over the five years when the child turned ages 15 to 19, and is adjusted for inflation to 2015 dollars. Children’s earnings are the sum of their individual wages and self-employment earnings in 2014. Earnings are rounded to the nearest $100. The “mobility rate” is defined as the percentage of all students who attended a particular college who met both of the following conditions: They had parents in the bottom 20 percent of the national income distribution among those in their birth cohort, and, in 2014, they reached the top 20 percent of the national income distribution for their birth cohort. Colleges are the ones the child attended most often between 19 and 22. Colleges with fewer than 500 students in a cohort are excluded from this table. Students who attended colleges are included even if they did not graduate. The study was based on millions of anonymous tax records and financial-aid records. Percentages are rounded, but colleges were ranked before rounding. Categorizations by sector are based on the colleges’ most-recent status. Questions or comments on the Chronicle List should be sent to Ruth Hammond.
Source: Chetty, Raj; Friedman, John; Saez, Emmanuel; Turner, Nicholas; and Yagan, Danny. Data from “Mobility Report Cards: The Role of Colleges in Intergenerational Mobility,” 2017. National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper No. 23618.
Update (3/22/2018, 11:24 a.m.): The summary at the top of the table was revised to highlight more prominently that only institutions with at least 500 students in the cohort are included in the table.