College Access and Income Inequality

There's an important link between socioeconomic mobility and access to higher education:

Pew researchers found that access to college for the poor and middle class was able to mitigate the worst effects of inequality on social mobility. Though income inequality is also restricting access to higher education for the poor and middle class, the student loan reforms passed in the Affordable Care Act are likely to boost aid for students who need loan assistance to attend college. Congressional Republicans, by contrast, want to cut Pell Grants for more than one million students.

(Image: "College graduates are more likely to exceed their parents' family income and wealth." Red denotes no college degree, blue denotes a college degree. You can see the rest of the report here.)