A new study by the National Bureau of Economic Research reveals that despite a century-long surge in U.S. college attendance—from under 10% to over 60%—students at elite universities overwhelmingly hail from wealthy families.
Analyzing data from 2.5 million students across 65 elite colleges, researchers found only marginal growth in representation from the bottom 20% of the income scale. At Harvard and Yale, just 5% of students came from low-income families—a figure unchanged since the 1920s. Similar trends were observed at Ivy League schools, MIT, Stanford, and Duke.
Public institutions showed modest improvement, with low-income enrollment at UC Berkeley rising from 3% in the 1920s to 10% by the 2000s. Economic diversity overall has stagnated, with gains for low-income students offset by declining middle-income representation since the 1980s.
The study highlights rising racial and geographic diversity, but concludes landmark policies like the G.I. Bill and standardized admissions tests have failed to significantly boost socioeconomic diversity at elite schools.
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