Promoting Economic Mobility by Increasing Postsecondary Education

The Brookings Institution authored this report on how postsecondary education can often be a path to economic mobility. Adults who have degrees from two-year or four-year colleges have far higher family incomes than do adults who have only a high school degree or are high school dropouts. Children from low-income families are less likely to enroll in either two- or four-year colleges, and less likely to complete a degree once they have enrolled. Researchers explain how increasing postsecondary education among this population can alleviate poverty and promote economic self-sufficiency.