And what about the affluent students?

They were able to recreate their parents’ success. They all graduated. Even the ones who chose easy majors, did very little studying, got mediocre grades and spent most of their time partying were able to find jobs after graduation. Since none of them had loans, they could afford to live on their own, and were positioned to meet and interact with men who were marriageable.

You characterize your base as a party dorm. Did the women know what they were getting into?

The affluent women pretty much all knew, because their older friends or siblings had told them it would be a fun place to live, and if they didn’t like it, they would ask for and get a change, even if it meant getting their parents involved. The less affluent women mostly ended up there by accident, but the women without money assumed they were supposed to be able to manage whatever situation they landed in.

Big state universities are usually thought of as places where students can befriend people of all kinds, and as vehicles of social mobility. Was that not true?

People assume there’s a benign pluralism, with the athletes over here, the vegans there, the sorority types over here, so students pick and choose whom to affiliate with. But our less advantaged women couldn’t see the possibilities.