Examining the Impact of Wealth on Obtaining a College Degree in the United States

Abstract

The purpose of this research project is to examine if wealth is a contributing factor in the attainment of a college degree. This objective was pursued by investigating the correlation between median household income in a state to the percentage of adults aged twenty-five or older living in that state who have a bachelor's degree or higher. This study is focused on the ten states with the highest median household income and the ten states with the lowest. All the data being used was obtained from the 2016 United States Census. I will use my knowledge of statistics in hypothesis testing to analyze the data and show with above 95% confidence that wealth among other factors plays a very important role in pursuing and obtaining a college degree.