Within five years of graduating, a majority of UC’s students from low-income families earn more than their parents.
That data, captured in UC’s 2018 Accountability Report, shows the extent to which a University of California degree can be a great economic equalizer. Among the highlights:
- Students from families in the bottom 20 percent of incomes go on to earn as much as students from middle-income families.
- A third of low-income students do even better — moving from the bottom 20 percent of incomes into the top 20 percent.
- All alumni, regardless of field or discipline, see their earnings double between two and 10 years after graduation.
The data “shows how a UC education creates economic mobility for its students,” Pamela Brown, UC’s vice president for Institutional Research and Academic Planning, told the Board of Regents at its recent meeting.
UC has more than 2 million living alumni. Over the past year, Brown’s team has been gathering and analyzing data to learn more about what happens to students after they complete their degrees, including which sectors they work in; how their earnings change over time; and whether low-income students move up the economic ladder.