. following a cohort of high school sophomores in 2002, 96 percent of students from a high socioeconomic - status family pursued at least some higher education and 60 percent completed a bachelor ’ s degree. among students from a low socioeconomic - status family, 72 percent pursued higher education and 14 percent completed a bachelor ’ s degree. socioeconomic status is based on family income and parents ’ education. see national center for education statistics ( 2015 ), “ postsecondary attainment : differences by socioeconomic status, ” in the condition of education 2015 ( washington : nces ), https : / / nces. ed. gov / programs / coe / pdf / coe _ tva. pdf. many people who did not enroll for or did not complete a degree also gave as a reason that they wanted to work, which may also reflect budget constraints that made pursuing or completing a higher education difficult. see board of governors of the federal reserve system ( 2016 ), report on the economic wellbeing of u. s. families in 2015 ( washington : board of governors, may ), https : / / www. federalreserve. gov / 2015 - report - economic - well - being - us - households - 201605. pdf. see note 7. - 55. 1 percent, for workers in this age group with only a high school diploma and about triple, 7. 9 percent, for those without a high school degree. 11 while high school graduates earn somewhat more than people who did not finish high school, the big payoff comes with a four - year college or advanced degree. 12 the advantages of higher education, evidenced by lower unemployment rates and higher earnings, are clear across the spectrum but are greater for non - hispanic whites than for african americans and hispanics. improving educational levels in low - and moderate - income communities is a long - term task. at least partially because of a lack of early childhood education and the sometimes lower quality of schools, children in these neighborhoods score substantially lower on standardized tests and drop out of high school at higher rates. 13 thus, a starting point is to improve access to quality education in early childhood and improve the quality of primary and secondary schooling. moreover, “ over 95 percent of jobs created during the recovery have gone to workers with at least some college education, while those with a high school diploma or less are being left behind ” ( as quoted from the introduction on the webpage for anthony p. carnevale, tamara

jayasundera, and artem gulish ( 2016 ), america ’ s divided recovery : college haves and have - nots ( washington : georgetown university center for education and the workforce ), https : / / cew. georgetown. edu / cew - reports / americas - divided - recovery ). also see bureau of labor statistics ( 2017 ), “ the employment situation - - february 2017, ” news release, march 10, table a - 4 : employment status of the civilian population 25 years and over by educational attainment, https : / / www. bls. gov / news. release / empsit. t04. htm ; and bls ( 2017 ), “ labor force statistics from the current population survey, ” march 10, table a - 10 : unemployment rates by age, sex, and marital status, seasonally adjusted, https : / / www. bls. gov / web / empsit / cpseea10. htm. the median weekly earnings for men with a high school degree but no college was $ 779, and for women it was $ 603. these amounts compare with median weekly earnings of $ 1, 501 for men and $ 1, 117 for women with a bachelor ’ s or higher degree. see sean f. reardon ( 2016 ), school district socioeconomic status, race, and academic achievement, paper, stanford center for education policy analysis ( stanford : stanford cepa ), https : / / cepa. stanford. edu / content / school - district - socioeconomic - status - race - and - academic - achievement ; motoko rich, amanda cox, and matthew bloch ( 2016 ), “ money, race and success : how your school district compares, ” new york times, april 29, http : / / www. nytimes. com / interactive / 2016 / 04 / 29 / upshot / money - race - and - success - how - your - school - districtcompares. html ; and geoffrey t. wodtke, david j. harding, and felix elwert ( 2011 ), “ neighborhood effects in temporal perspective, ” american sociological review, vol. 76 ( october ), pp. 713 - 36. - 6we must also recognize and address the barriers faced by low - and moderateincome students trying to attain higher levels of education - - barriers not typically faced by their more well - off peers. first