We exploit the changes in the distribution of family income to estimate the
effect of parental resources on college education. Our strategy exploits t
he fact that families at the bottom of the income distribution were much po
orer in the 1990s than they were in the 1970s, while the opposite is true f
or families in the top quartile of the distribution. Our estimates suggest
large effects of family income on enrollments. For example, we find that a
10 percent increase in family income is associated with a 1.4 percent incre
ase in the probability of attending a four-year college. (C) 2001 Elsevier
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