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Much is known about the benefits of postsecondary education to both individuals and society. Higher levels of education are associated with higher median earnings and higher tax revenue, as well as higher workforce participation, lower unemployment, and less reliance on public assistance programs, to name only a few examples. People with more postsecondary education show higher levels of civic participation (e.g., voting and involvement in community activities) and are incarcerated at lower rates. Much is also known about persistent gaps in educational and workforce outcomes by race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and gender.

In this report, we present the results of a thought experiment in which we estimated the potential costs and benefits to society of achieving equality in educational attainment and related workforce outcomes by race/ethnicity, class, and gender. We conducted this thought experiment to clarify the role that education can play in reducing inequality. While education has significant value that cannot be measured in monetary terms, we focused in our analysis on monetary outcomes such as earnings, tax revenue, and effects on [gross domestic product] GDP, along with secondary effects on incarceration costs, public health expenditures, and other public programs, using a stepwise analysis to simulate what would happen if various income, racial or ethnic, and gender equity gaps were closed.

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The view that educational equality is too resource-intensive and expensive to achieve ignores the considerable societal value of equality in postsecondary education. The bottom line: as a society, the United States loses more by not achieving equal educational outcomes than it would spend by investing in educational equality. The Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce reached this conclusion when we partnered with the Postsecondary Value Commission to investigate what the world would look like if we could use postsecondary education more effectively as a lever for achieving economic and racial justice. We found that while equalizing educational attainment would be costly and time-intensive, balancing the costs with the potential societal benefits makes it clear that an investment in postsecondary equality is money well spent. To address the critical question of the extent to which greater equality in higher education can alleviate inequality in society, we simulated the impact of increased postsecondary attainment on various racial, economic, and gender gaps.

The following report describes the conclusions of a thought experiment in which we explored what the world might look like if educational attainment were made more equal by race/ethnicity and economic status - that is, if all socioeconomic groups had levels of education as high as those of the middle, upper-middle, and upper classes, and if all racial/ethnic groups had levels of education at least equivalent to those of White adults. To measure the potential benefits of equality in educational outcomes, we estimated (1) the effects of narrowing racial/ethnic, economic, and gender gaps in several areas, postsecondary attainment foremost among them; (2) the benefits if, in addition to narrowing gaps in postsecondary attainment, our society was also able to narrow economic, racial/ethnic, and gender gaps in earnings among equally educated individuals; (3) how differences in college majors and student loan burdens contribute to differences in earnings and wealth accumulation, as well as what effect leveling these differences would have on earnings and wealth gaps; and (4) the potential impact of closing postsecondary equity gaps on achieving other economic outcomes, such as assuring sufficient earnings and wealth to provide upward economic mobility as well as a safety net in case of economic hardship.

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