New Study Ranks TAMIU Third in Nation for Highest Mobility Rate

A new study that looks at the role of colleges in mobility has found that Texas A&M International University (TAMIU) ranks third in the nation among colleges with the highest upward income mobility rate, from the bottom 40% to the top 40%. The findings were published Jan. 18, 2017 in The New York Times. 

TAMIU was among 10 universities ranked, and one of only two Texas colleges included.  In an additional overall mobility peer comparison, TAMIU ranked first out of Texas colleges.  Researchers noted that this ranking establishes that “This measure reflects both access and outcomes, representing the likelihood that a student at TAMIU moved up two or more income quintiles (fifths).” 

In another peer comparison using their standards for income definition, researchers ranked TAMIU eighth among nonselective four-year public colleges for the 25% chance that a poor student has to become a rich adult. 

TAMIU president Dr. Pablo Arenaz said the research findings are impressive and reaffirm the impact TAMIU has had on the community and region. 

“This goes to the very essence of what TAMIU is all about…we transform lives and impact families every day.  Our graduates’ lives are measurably enhanced and the communities, states, regions, and countries they live in are quantifiably bettered,” Dr. Arenaz said.

Dubbed The Equality of Opportunity Project, researchers seek to use big data to identify new pathways to upward mobility.   The researchers established a college’s mobility rate by combining its share of students from lower-income families with its success at propelling them into the upper part of the distribution.

The study team includes researchers from Brown University, the University of California, Berkeley, Stanford University and the United States Treasury.

The project looked at more than 2000 American colleges, tracking more than 30 million students born between 1980 and 1991, linking anonymized tax returns to attendance records from the colleges.

To read more about the Project, go to: http://www.equality-of-opportunity.org 

To see specific information for TAMIU as reported in The New York Times, with customizable comparisons, go to: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/projects/college-mobility/texas-am-international-university

TAMIU’s Spring Semester 2017 began Jan. 18.  Registration continues through Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2017.