Selective Attrition in a Newly Hostile Regime: The Case of 1980 Sophomores

Abstract

For every American birth cohort since 1905 social background effects have declined as the cohort moves through the educational system. Pre-1955 birth cohorts pursued schooling during rapid educational expansion and increasing financial support for higher education. In the 1980s, however, tuitions rose sharply and public financial support for higher education declined. This reversal may have increased the relative importance of social background for college entry. Analysis of High School and Beyond 1980 sophomores suggests that in the 1980s social background became more important for college entry than for high school completion. This finding both captures the experience of more recent cohorts and implies that the previous pattern of declining background effects cannot be understood as primarily the result of selective attrition of the disadvantaged