Sources of Intergenerational Persistence in College Attainment

Educational attainment is remarkably persistent across generations. That is, there is a tendency for children to achieve similar levels of education as their parents. In the U.S., individuals born in 1980 had a 58.4% probability of attaining a bachelor’s degree if at least one of their parents held a bachelor’s degree, compared with 19.3% if neither parent did.

The table below shows persistence statistics for several other birth cohorts in the U.S.For this data, see Ekkehard Ernst, François Langot, Rossana Merola and Jhon Jair Gonzalez Pulgarin’s April 2024 International Labour Organization Working Paper 111, “Intergenerational Trends in Educational and Income Mobility in the United States of America since the 1960s.” Persistence in college attainment is not a new phenomenon, and it is relatively stable over time.

This phenomenon, called intergenerational persistence, is not just about educational attainment. It also is true for other life outcomes associated with education, such as income, wealth, health and longevity.

Intergenerational persistence can contribute to economic gaps and, hence, it is the subject of many studies. In a highly persistent society, individuals from poor economic backgrounds have fewer opportunities to achieve better economic outcomes than their parents, while those from wealthier backgrounds face a lower risk of achieving worse outcomes. Thus, such a society reproduces existing economic gaps across generations. In a highly persistent society, one can find families of college-educated people on the one hand, and families of people with less education on the other hand.

What Causes Persistence in College Attainment?

College attainment results from (at least) three categories of factors. First, there are cognitive factors, such as the ability for abstraction, memorization and reasoning. Typically, individuals with high cognitive abilities are more likely to obtain a college degree. Second, there are financial factors that determine whether individuals can afford college or secure a loan for the cost of tuition. Individuals from wealthier family backgrounds can more easily do either. Finally, there are noncognitive traits, such as self-control, perseverance, curiosity and others. Evidence suggests such traits, sometimes called soft skills, also matter for educational attainment. For instance, there is evidence that patient individuals tend to perform better in schools and to attain higher levels of education.The measurement of ability, particularly noncognitive ability, is a complex and vast field of research. For a list of references, see David Fuller and Guillaume Vandenbroucke’s Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Working Paper 2025-003D, “Parents, Patience, and Persistence: A Novel Theory of Intergenerational College Attainment,” revised October 2025.

How Cognitive and Financial Factors Affect Persistence

These factors can be sources of persistence in college attainment on their own or in combination. Some cognitive ability might be influenced by innate cognitive traits, potentially inherited from parents, which would be a source of persistence. However, evidence of persistence between parents and their adopted children implies forces beyond the transmission of genetic traits are responsible for intergenerational persistence. In fact, when it comes to college attainment, the relevant cognitive ability is at the college-going age, which depends on early, primary and secondary education, not just on children’s innate ability.

This creates another source of persistence: College-educated parents are more likely to be wealthy enough to afford quality education for their children before they reach college-going age. For example, those children may attend quality schools, receive help from tutors, or be exposed to foreign languages and foreign travels. So, the college attainment of parents may affect their children’s cognitive ability and enhance their chances of attaining a college degree. It is important to note that this mechanism is not the parents’ financial ability to afford a college education for their children, a question often raised in the public debate on the cost of college. The mechanism is the parents’ financial ability to better prepare their children for college. But the cost of college itself is, of course, a source of persistence: Parents with a college degree are more likely to be able to afford college tuition, financially support their children while they are in college, secure a college loan or help with reimbursing the loan.

How Noncognitive Traits Affect Persistence

Turning to noncognitive traits, their role in persistence may follow from education within the family and the family background itself. It is not obvious whether noncognitive traits contribute to persistence or to its opposite, i.e., economic mobility. Both college-educated families and families with less education are likely to instill in their children some of the soft skills useful for a college education: patience, curiosity, effort, resilience and others. There exists evidence, however, that college-educated parents spend more time with their children than parents without a college background do.For more information, see Garey Ramey and Valerie Ramey’s August 2009 National Bureau of Economic Research working paper, “The Rug Rat Race” (PDF), and Jonathan Guryan, Erik Hurst and Melissa Kearney’s 2008 Journal of Economic Perspectives article, “Parental Education and Parental Time with Children.” If it was the case that college-educated parents use this time to teach the soft skills useful for college, then this could contribute to persistence.

In Summary

Persistence in college attainment is a factor contributing to economic mobility and, as such, it is of interest to academics and policymakers. College persistence may arise from a variety of sources, not all having to do with the cost of a college education.

Notes

1. For this data, see Ekkehard Ernst, François Langot, Rossana Merola and Jhon Jair Gonzalez Pulgarin’s April 2024 International Labour Organization Working Paper 111, “Intergenerational Trends in Educational and Income Mobility in the United States of America since the 1960s.”
2. The measurement of ability, particularly noncognitive ability, is a complex and vast field of research. For a list of references, see David Fuller and Guillaume Vandenbroucke’s Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Working Paper 2025-003D, “Parents, Patience, and Persistence: A Novel Theory of Intergenerational College Attainment," revised October 2025.
3. For more information, see Garey Ramey and Valerie Ramey’s August 2009 National Bureau of Economic Research working paper, “The Rug Rat Race” (PDF), and Jonathan Guryan, Erik Hurst and Melissa Kearney’s 2008 Journal of Economic Perspectives article, “Parental Education and Parental Time with Children.”