In the most comprehensive study of college graduates yet conducted, Pace University came in an impressive no. 2 in the nation for its graduates’ upward mobility. The survey incorporated millions of anonymous tax filings and financial-aid records, tracking students from practically every university in the country (even those who didn’t graduate). That data was then analyzed according to where each student’s household placed in income distribution when they entered college versus where those same students fall in income distribution as of today.*
For those students having entered college from households in the bottom fifth of income distribution, 82 percent of Pace University students wound up in the top three-fifths of society today. Even more impressive, 55.6 percent of Pace students from the lowest 20 percent of family income found themselves in the top 20 percent of earners as of their early 30s.
“Opportunitas is the university’s motto,” says Stephen J. Friedman, president of Pace University, “so being identified by the Equality of Opportunity Project as the most effective higher-education institution in New York — and second in the nation — is a huge affirmation of the success of our mission.”
