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While college enrollment continues to climb, it has grown the least for low-income students. The Pell Grant was created to open the door to college for low-income students, but we find that qualified Pell Grant recipients are being denied the opportunity of an elite college education. Some argue these students are not qualified or that the institution can’t afford to…

Black History Month is an important time to reflect on the achievements of African Americans, and celebrate their profound presence in the fabric of American society. From our area of expertise, we have observed many positive trends in the education and labor market outcomes for African Americans throughout the past two decades.

It is not surprising that President-elect Trump’s proposed $1 trillion in spending on infrastructure is certain to have positive employment effects in keeping with standard Keynesian theory. But, here’s the potential downside: the additional spending, in combination with tax cuts and other economic policy shifts proposed by the President-elect, could generate inflation and set the stage for further interest rate…

Since the 1990s, the number of black and Latino high school graduates who enroll in college has more than doubled. But three-quarters of that increase has been at underfunded, overcrowded open-access colleges. Meanwhile, white college enrollment has increased only at the nation’s top 500 universities. In an op-ed for the Washington Post, I argue that these inequities in higher education…

I published an op-ed with The Hechinger Report in response to President-elect Donald Trump’s promise to bring manufacturing jobs back. It is human nature to be nostalgic for times gone by. For many, the days when a high school education was a gateway to middle-class earnings was a brighter, simpler time. But, as the op-ed argues, traditional manufacturing production jobs…

When the federal government forced for-profit ITT Technical Institute to shutter its operations in September due, in part, to its misleading recruitment information, it sent a strong message to other similar institutions. And it’s not just for-profit schools that market themselves by boasting about their graduation rates and job-placement numbers. So, too, do some not-for-profit four-year colleges and universities to…

The number of Hispanic/Latinos in the US has surged over the last four decades. The contributions of Hispanics/Latinos to society are numerous, and their dynamic culture is one we celebrate beyond Hispanic Heritage Month. Over the next 10 years, there will be 55 million job openings in the US. Ten million of those will be new jobs, and 46 million…

The idea of free college tuition has gotten a lot of wind behind it in this election cycle, backed first by Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders and now embraced by that party’s nominee Hillary Clinton. The idea is intrinsically appealing. Many young people dismiss the thought of going to college based on the price tag alone. That decision may rob them…

For the first time, four-year college graduates and those with graduate and professional degrees make up a larger share of the workforce (36%) than workers with a high school diploma or less (34%). This reflects an ongoing trend in our economy where the next job created most likely will require someone with postsecondary education. This trend seems to have accelerated…