Elite Colleges and Socioeconomic Status

Abstract Elite colleges have long been associated with socioeconomic reproduction, passing along elite social standing to children of middle and upper‐middle socioeconomic status (SES) parents. How has that role changed during the expansion of American higher education over the past 50 years? Have elite colleges and universities also become providers of socioeconomic mobility? In this essay, I outline recent demographic, admissions, and financial aid changes at these institutions and compare both in‐college experiences and college outcomes between low‐SES and more‐affluent students at elite colleges. I argue that although elite colleges and universities do include greater numbers of low‐SES students than in earlier generations and have great potential for even further inclusion, they remain far from serving as broad engines of socioeconomic mobility.