The Class Divide in Higher Education: Compounding Privilege, Multiplying Barriers

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue explores the ways that wealth-based disparities manifest themselves at every turn in systems of higher education in the United States and beyond.  The issue first will examine how wealth affects college admissions, beginning with the question of whether the use of standardized tests reinforces wealth stratification. This section will also discuss other criteria that may replicate privilege, such as preferences for the children of donors and alumni.

The second part of the issue considers how wealth affects the college experience. The articles will evaluate how financial exigencies undermine education as students struggle with food and housing insecurity, the need to work, student debt, and pressures to stop out or drop out due to limited funds. In addition, this section will address how wealth disparities affect students’ access to the social capital that colleges and universities, especially elite ones, provide.

The third portion of the issue will assess how wealth disparities influence outcomes. The articles will analyze the effects of student debt on critical life decisions such as marrying, buying a house, and pursuing an advanced degree. Authors will assess impacts on the promise of intergenerational mobility that has long been associated with a bachelor’s degree.

The final part of the issue will look beyond the United States to examine how wealth affects access to higher education throughout the world. These articles will offer insights on different nations’ efforts to promote higher education access. Reforms may include, among others, expanding systems of higher education, offering free tuition, and growing the pipeline of qualified students through improved elementary and secondary education.

Please submit your proposals and any questions to the Special Issue editor by 21 April 2025.

Prof. Rachel F. Moran
Prof. Jonathan D. Glater
Guest Editors

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