ABSTRACT
In this chapter, I focus on the first research question; that is, I examine the variability in the probability of earning degrees at high-quality institutions among different students. For example, how is the probability of earning degrees at high-quality institutions related to students’ demographic characteristics? What is the effect of family background characteristics? Does the student’s ability play any role? If so, how is the student’s ability related to demographic and family background characteristics? At first sight, these questions might not seem to be germane to the study of the effect of college quality. They are in fact highly relevant in a couple of ways.
