Where There is No Equity Engine: Unequal Geographies of College Success for Low-Income Students

In this paper, I define, identify, and map a critical but understudied group of institutions—four-year colleges and universities that enroll and graduate large proportions of low-income students. These “Equity Engines” are vital resources for both low-income students and our democratic society but they are unevenly distributed across the United States. Using geospatial analysis and bivariate mapping, I illustrate and analyze the relationship between access to and need for Equity Engines across the United States. I find large gaps in access across the southern United States and show that robust public higher education systems drive degree completion in high-need, high-access states. Finally, moving from the state to the census tract level, I examine proximity between Equity Engines and high need communities. I find that within states, distances between Equity Engines and the communities where low-income young people live range widely, offering a more nuanced picture of state-level access.