More Than Just Hard Work: Educational Policies to Facilitate Economic Mobility

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed long-standing class-based inequities in education and as a result highlighted the role of structural supports (e.g., food, stable housing, income) promoting economic opportunity. Although social class mobility is often attributed to perceptions of hard work, science does not support these dominant narratives. Instead, access to quality education and structural supports correlate with economic uplift. By eliminating structural barriers to low-income college students’ degree completion and coordinating efforts to assist low-income students, policymakers can restore the promise of economic mobility through education. This article focuses on the psychological and behavioral science that should inform higher education policy. As the country recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic, a structure-based, scientific approach to facilitate equal opportunity in higher education is vital to spurring greater economic mobility and avoiding further entrenchment of economic inequalities.

What We Bring With Us: Investing in Latinx Students Means Investing in Families

“…Low-income, first-generation Latinx students report stress associated with working to support their families while paying academic costs (e.g., tuition, supplies, housing) or with having to choose between paid work that supports their families and unpaid opportunities (e.g., research, internships) that support their academic and professional development (Covarrubias et al, 2019; Vasquez-Salgado et al, 2015; see also Carnevale & Smith, 2018). Addressing the affordability of college or offering paid professional opportunities through more robust federal funding initiatives helps to reduce these competing tensions (see Williams & Reppond, 2020).…”

“…Yet, once students step onto campus, the expectation, conveyed in both subtle and not so subtle ways, is to shed these critical parts of the self. Upholding notions of individualism and meritocracy, the building blocks of U.S. culture (Bullock, 2013; Hochschild, 1996; Williams & Reppond, 2020), most institutions of higher education expect students to pursue and value individual success (Phillips et al, 2020; Stephens et al, 2012). Institutions focus narrowly on students’ individual trajectories toward graduation.…”