Three essays on the role of higher education in inequality

Educational expansion has raised questions of whether higher education alleviates, maintains, or exacerbates inequality. This thesis discusses the role of higher edu- cation in socioeconomic inequality in contemporary societies, focusing on two types of inequality associated with higher education: first, intergenerational inequality among college graduates, and second, inter-household inequality originating from educational assortative mating among men and women with higher education. The first two chapters, which concern the first type, aim to identify potential locations and mechanisms of social origin gaps in socioeconomic outcomes among individuals with higher education in the UK. Results from the first chapter confirm substan- tial social origin gaps among college graduates but with extensive heterogeneity by educational attainment, labour market sector, socioeconomic outcome of interest, and gender. The second chapter reveals differentiated pathways through higher ed- ucation associated with unequal access to top occupations among individuals with a postgraduate degree. The third chapter addresses the second type of inequality using the most recent US data. Although there have been changes in factors determining inter-household economic inequality over the past two decades, results suggest that changes in educational assortative mating have not contributed to inter-household earnings inequality. Results of the thesis shed light on promising lines of future research that are relevant to higher education and inequality: the role of family formation in intergenerational inequality and heterogeneity among individuals or households of the same educational attainments