UCLA

While higher education has been known as the great equalizer, the racial wealth gap of college graduates is overlooked: Among college-educated households (2013) the median net worth was $359,928 for white households; $250,637 for Asian households; $49,606 for Hispanic households; and $32,780 households for Black households. Although MSIs demonstrate social mobility for low-income students, racial/ethnic gaps are unclear. This specificity on students of color is foundational to Minority-Serving Institution (MSI) accountability and funding.

Using the 2008-2018 and 2016-2017 Postbaccalaureate and Beyond datasets, this quantitative study integrated descriptives and logistic and multiple regression to examine racial disparities in annualized salary, including those within MSI types, and implemented propensity score matching (PSM) to simulate the treatment effects of internships. Findings showed that Asian ($91,286) and white ($78,227) graduates increasingly outpaced Hispanic ($64,142) and Black ($60,690) graduates in annualized salaries 10 years after degree completion. Among MSIs, racial groups generally fared better at Predominantly White Institutions, while some groups fared better at HBCUs and HSIs. While Black and Hispanic graduates had lower annualized salary averages compared to white and Asian graduates, multiple regressions showed that Black and Hispanic graduates had higher predicted salaries once social class entered each model. PSM results showed that participating in paid internships had higher predicted positive effects (b=2067, p<.001) while unpaid internships had negative predicted effects (b=-2947, p<.001) on annualized salary. Other key findings indicated social reproduction and sexism in terms of social class and women, respectively. Implications for policy and practice concerning internships and MSIs are discussed.