Why does all of this matter? “A bachelor’s degree is the single most influential determinant in multigenerational change and ending the cycle of poverty,” Catherine Suitor, an administrator at Alliance, a network of Los Angeles high schools, told me. Jasmine Pachnanda, another Alliance administrator, had this to say about high-school graduates: “We need to make sure we are guiding them toward colleges where they are going to be successful.”

I hope you’ll read the piece — or play around with the graphics. And if you have suggestions for future higher education work we should do, we’re all ears. Drop me a line at leonhardt@nytimes.com.