ABSTRACT
Most empirical research finds only small effects of elite colleges on labor market outcomes except for one variable: the social background of entering freshmen, in particular the highest education level achieved by parents. Hoxby and Avery (2012) present empirical evidence that 10 times as many African-Americans than previously thought have SAT or ACT scores that warrant admission to the top elite colleges. This chapter raises questions about the role higher education plays in social-economic inequality in the United States and suggests ways to reduce the negative branding effects of what are labeled as selective colleges on all college students in “less-selective” colleges (see Baron’s 2014).
