Open Admissions and Its Outcomes: Ethnic Differences in Long-Term Educational Attainment

Abstract

The open-admissions policy initiated at the multicampus system of the City University of New York (CUNY) in 1970 has been one of the nation's most ambitious attempts to promote opportunity in higher education. Using longitudinal data spanning 14 years (1970-84), we assess how much opportunity the policy created and how that opportunity translated into educational attainment. A process of cumulative disadvantage appears to depress the attainment of minority students. Weak high school preparation, community-college entry, and full-time work while in college reduce their B. A. attainment rates and increase the time needed to complete the degree. Time to B. A., in turn, contributes to ethnic disparities in the likelihood of completing a postgraduate degree. Nevertheless, under the program, tens of thousands of students entered college who otherwise would not have done so, and many thousands of these entrants ultimately earned degrees. The analyses identify the success and the limitations of open admissions in attempting to narrow ethnic inequalities in educational attainment.