#  Top Colleges Overlook Low-Income Achievers, says Christopher Avery 

 





March 21, 2013

 

 

     ![chris_avery](/sites/g/files/omnuum8171/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/harvard-iqss/files/chris_avery_1_01.jpg?itok=qvc4pe6a) 

 



 

 Many high-performing high school students from low-income backgrounds are not even applying to top universities, according to a paper authored by Caroline Hoxby, Bommer Professor in Economics at Stanford University, and IQSS affiliate [Christopher Avery](http://projects.iq.harvard.edu/iqss/people/chris-avery), Larsen Professor of Public Policy and Management at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. In a working paper titled "The Missing 'One-Offs': The Hidden Supply of High-Achieving, Low Income Students," Hoxby and Avery observe that despite the fact that low-income students graduate at higher rates in selective institutions, the vast majority of low-income students—who may be unaware of their academic options—instead apply to non-selective four-year and two-year colleges. Hoxby and Avery go on to discuss possible ways in which selective colleges might seek to increase application rates from low-income achievers.

 The New York Times looks at their findings, possible factors, and potential consequences in its article, "[Better Colleges Failing to Lure Talented Poor](http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/17/education/scholarly-poor-often-overlook-better-colleges.html?smid=pl-share)," as does Bloomberg News in "[Most Poor Ignored by Best Colleges](/%20http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-17/most-poor-ignored-by-best-colleges-new-york-times-says.html)." The paper can be found [here](http://www.nber.org/papers/w18586).



 

 

 



 

 

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