Unequal Higher Education

Wealth, Status, and Student Opportunity

Barrett J. Taylor, Brendan Cantwell

• Publisher: Rutgers University Press
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9780813593494
• eBook ISBN: 9780813593517
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Comparative Education

American higher education is often understood as a vehicle for social advancement. However, the institutions at which students enroll differ widely from one another. Some enjoy tremendous endowment savings and/or collect resources via research, which then offsets the funds that students contribute. Other institutions rely heavily on student tuition payments. These schools may struggle to remain solvent, and their students often bear the lion's share of educational costs. Unequal Higher Education identifies and explains the sources of stratification that differentiate colleges and universities in the United States. Barrett J. Taylor and Brendan Cantwell use quantitative analysis to map the contours of this system. They then explain the mechanisms that sustain it and illustrate the ways in which rising institutional inequality has limited individual opportunity, especially for students of color and low-income individuals.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Introduction
• 1. The Roots of Unequal Higher Education
• 2. A Field Account of Unequal Higher Education
• 3. Mapping Unequal Higher Education
• 4. Unequal Public Higher Education: Stratification and Drift
• 5. Unequal Private Higher Education: Persistent Inequalities
• 6. Unequal Higher Education and Student Opportunity
• 7. Consequences of Unequal Higher Education: Student Success and Mortgaged Futures
• 8. Contesting Unequal Higher Education
• Appendix
• Acknowledgments
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index
• About the Authors