Study: Elite Degrees Offer Little Advantage for African American Students

A research study from the University of Michigan found that a college degree from a highly selective college or university offers little advantage for African American graduates. White job applicants with a degree from an elite university had the highest response rate (nearly 18 percent), followed by black candidates with a degree from an elite university (13 percent). White candidates with a degree from a less-selective university had nearly the same response rate (more than 11 percent) as a black candidate from an elite university. Black job applicants with a degree from a less-selective university had the lowest response rate (less than 7 percent).

"These racial differences suggest that a bachelor's degree, even one from an elite institution, cannot fully counteract the importance of race in the labor market," said Gaddis, a postdoctoral scholar in the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Health Policy Scholars program at the School of Public Health. "Thus, both discrimination and differences in human capital contribute to racial economic inequality."

Furthermore, race results in a double penalty. When employers responded to black candidates, it was for jobs with lower starting salaries and lower prestige than those of white peers. Black applicants received responses for jobs with a listed salary about $3,000 less than white candidates.