Equalization or Reproduction? "Some College" and the Social Function of Higher Education.

This article examines the economic consequences of college noncompletion in the United States by analyzing data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (NLSY97) using augmented inverse probability weighting (AIPW). It finds that individuals who attend college but do not complete a degree ("noncompleters") generally earn higher incomes than those who never attend college, but they also face increased financial hardship—particularly among Black individuals and those from lower net-worth families—largely due to student debt. Conversely, college completion yields substantially greater income and reduces financial hardship despite higher average educational debt, indicating an equalizing effect. The study highlights heterogeneity in these effects across demographic groups and propensity to complete college, suggesting that higher education simultaneously produces both equalizing and reproductive socioeconomic outcomes, with student debt playing a key mediating role.