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Colleges With the Highest Student-Mobility Rates, 2014

Almanac 2018
August 19, 2018

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.

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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

RankInstitutionMedian parent household incomeMedian child earnings, 2014 Parents in bottom 20 percent of income distributionChildren from bottom 20 percent who reached top 20 percentMobility rate
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

RankInstitutionMedian parent household incomeMedian child earnings, 2014 Parents in bottom 20 percent of income distributionChildren from bottom 20 percent who reached top 20 percentMobility rate
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

RankInstitutionMedian parent household incomeMedian child earnings, 2014 Parents in bottom 20 percent of income distributionChildren from bottom 20 percent who reached top 20 percentMobility rate
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

RankInstitutionMedian parent household incomeMedian child earnings, 2014 Parents in bottom 20 percent of income distributionChildren from bottom 20 percent who reached top 20 percentMobility rate
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>

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A version of this article appeared in the August 24, 2018, issue.
Read other items in this Students: Almanac 2018 package.
We welcome your thoughts and questions about this article. Please email the editors or submit a letter for publication.
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