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. Nine CUNY campuses were in the top 20 for mobility rates among four-year public colleges with at least 300 students in the average birth cohort from 1980 to 1982, and two CUNY campuses were in the top five among two-year public colleges. Seven Roman Catholic institutions and four historically black colleges and universities ranked in the top 20 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 | 27.6% | 46.8% | 12.9% |
| 2. | City College of City U. of New York | $35,500 | $48,500 | 32.5% | 36.0% | 11.7% |
| 3. | City U. of New York, Herbert H. Lehman College | $32,500 | $40,700 | 36.7% | 27.9% | 10.2% |
| 4. | California State U. at Los Angeles | $36,600 | $43,000 | 33.1% | 29.9% | 9.9% |
| 5. | City U. of New York, John Jay College of Criminal Justice | $41,800 | $45,200 | 27.2% | 35.7% | 9.7% |
| 6. | Stony Brook U. | $73,600 | $60,100 | 16.4% | 51.2% | 8.4% |
| 7. | City U. of New York, New York City College of Technology | $33,500 | $37,000 | 35.3% | 23.6% | 8.3% |
| 8. | City U. of New York, Brooklyn College | $52,200 | $44,300 | 23.2% | 34.7% | 8.1% |
| 9. | U. of Texas-Pan American (now merged into the U. of Texas-Rio Grande Valley) | $31,700 | $39,300 | 38.7% | 19.8% | 7.6% |
| 10. | City U. of New York, Hunter College | $49,800 | $44,400 | 21.2% | 35.6% | 7.5% |
| 11. | City U. of New York, Queens College | $63,300 | $48,200 | 20.1% | 35.4% | 7.1% |
| 12. | South Texas College | $23,900 | $27,500 | 52.4% | 13.2% | 6.9% |
| 13. | California State Polytechnic U. at Pomona | $80,200 | $55,100 | 14.9% | 45.8% | 6.8% |
| 14. | U. of Texas at El Paso | $42,400 | $38,400 | 28.0% | 24.4% | 6.8% |
| 15. | City U. of New York, York College | $36,500 | $36,400 | 30.7% | 22.2% | 6.8% |
| 16. | U. of California at Irvine | $92,100 | $60,400 | 12.2% | 55.3% | 6.8% |
| 17. | U. of Texas at Brownsville (now merged into the U. of Texas-Rio Grande Valley) | $26,400 | $29,800 | 47.3% | 14.0% | 6.6% |
| 18. | New Jersey Institute of Technology | $84,000 | $71,600 | 10.1% | 63.8% | 6.5% |
| 19. | California State U. at Northridge | $61,100 | $44,100 | 19.8% | 32.0% | 6.3% |
| 20. | U. of California at Riverside | $75,000 | $52,800 | 14.7% | 41.0% | 6.0% |
2-year public institutions
| 1. | Glendale Community College (Calif.) | $40,100 | $30,500 | 32.4% | 21.9% | 7.1% |
| 2. | Laredo Community College | $27,400 | $28,700 | 43.1% | 15.6% | 6.7% |
| 3. | City U. of New York, Borough of Manhattan Community College | $33,500 | $31,900 | 35.1% | 17.5% | 6.1% |
| 4. | Texas State Technical College at Harlingen | $29,100 | $25,400 | 43.2% | 14.2% | 6.1% |
| 5. | City U. of New York, La Guardia Community College | $33,800 | $31,800 | 36.8% | 16.5% | 6.1% |
4-year private nonprofit institutions
| 1. | Pace U. | $68,600 | $60,700 | 15.2% | 55.6% | 8.4% |
| 2. | St. John’s U. (N.Y.) | $69,200 | $58,900 | 14.3% | 47.4% | 6.8% |
| 3. | St. Francis College (N.Y.) | $70,500 | $53,000 | 13.5% | 49.2% | 6.6% |
| 4. | College of Mount Saint Vincent and Manhattan College | $94,800 | $67,900 | 9.2% | 62.6% | 5.8% |
| 5. | Long Island U. system | $59,000 | $39,900 | 18.6% | 29.8% | 5.5% |
| 6. | Saint Peter’s U. | $59,700 | $45,500 | 20.5% | 26.9% | 5.5% |
| 7. | New York Institute of Technology | $78,500 | $49,900 | 14.6% | 37.0% | 5.4% |
| 8. | Xavier U. of Louisiana | $63,100 | $48,400 | 16.7% | 31.5% | 5.3% |
| 9. | Tuskegee U. | $54,400 | $38,900 | 18.7% | 28.0% | 5.2% |
| 10. | St. Mary’s U. (Tex.) | $76,700 | $49,700 | 13.4% | 38.0% | 5.1% |
| 11. | Dillard U. | $42,600 | $36,700 | 24.8% | 20.3% | 5.0% |
| 12. | Utica College | $67,500 | $47,800 | 13.1% | 38.4% | 5.0% |
| 13. | U. of the Pacific | $96,500 | $59,000 | 8.6% | 49.7% | 4.3% |
| 14. | Howard U. | $76,900 | $49,600 | 10.8% | 37.1% | 4.0% |
| 15. | Fordham U. | $113,300 | $63,300 | 7.6% | 52.1% | 4.0% |
| 16. | U. of Southern California | $120,100 | $63,700 | 7.2% | 54.6% | 3.9% |
| 17. | Park U. | $65,300 | $43,600 | 14.0% | 27.6% | 3.9% |
| 18. | Florida Institute of Technology | $86,300 | $59,600 | 7.3% | 51.2% | 3.8% |
| 19. | Saint Leo U. | $57,300 | $38,000 | 19.0% | 19.2% | 3.6% |
| 20. | New York U. | $130,500 | $58,100 | 6.9% | 52.3% | 3.6% |
2-year and 4-year for-profit institutions
| 1. | Berkeley College at New York | $42,500 | $36,500 | 27.4% | 21.0% | 5.8% |
| 2. | Triangle Tech at Pittsburgh | $55,800 | $37,500 | 17.5% | 25.4% | 4.4% |
| 3. | DeVry U., DeVry Institute of Technology, and Denver Technical College | $56,300 | $40,900 | 17.6% | 24.3% | 4.3% |
| 4. | Berkeley College at Woodland Park (N.J.) | $51,200 | $37,600 | 20.8% | 19.3% | 4.0% |
| 5. | Monroe College (N.Y.) | $28,200 | $20,400 | 43.6% | 8.8% | 3.8% |
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 and 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 300 students in the average cohort for 1980, 1981, and 1982 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. Complete data can be found here. Questions or comments on the Almanac should be sent to the Almanac editor.
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.</small></p>