Dialogue with the Fed to Address “Does College Level the Playing Field?”

ST. LOUIS –  Is college the "great equalizer" that opens up economic opportunity for lower-income, disadvantaged, and minority families? The St. Louis Fed’s Center for Household Financial Stability found that, since 1992, whites and Asians with college degrees have seen their wealth soar while blacks and Hispanics with college degrees have seen their wealth plummet.

This paradox will be the topic of the next  Dialogue with the Fed, the St. Louis Fed’s free evening lecture series for the general public. 

William R. Emmons, lead economist for the center, will look at what underlies this troubling finding, and how college, which is increasingly necessary for financial success, can truly expand economic opportunity in the U.S. Robert Hopkins, senior vice president and regional executive of the St. Louis Fed’s Little Rock Branch, and Ray Boshara, director of the center, will give opening remarks.

Following the presentation, Boshara will moderate a panel discussion featuring Emmons, Angelyque Campbell, manager of policy analysis and communications for the Federal Reserve Board of Governors Consumer and Community Affairs division, and Lowell Ricketts, lead analyst with the center.

This Dialogue with the Fed will be live streamed Tuesday, May 23, 2017, starting at 6:30 p.m. CT at www.stlouisfed.org/live.

Media who are interested in attending the Dialogue on site, please contact Suzanne Jenkins at suzanne.m.jenkins@stls.frb.org.