Widening gaps in higher-education-attainment levels could lead to a downturn in opportunities for the poorest American families to move up on the economic ladder, a new study from the Pew Charitable Trusts’ Economic Mobility Project warns, according to a report in The New York Times.

The study was conducted by scholars at the Brookings Institution. According to the Times, the study’s authors found that Hispanic and black Americans were falling behind whites and Asians in earning college degrees, making it harder for them to enter the middle class or higher. A report on the study, “Getting Ahead or Losing Ground: Mobility in America,” is scheduled for release on Wednesday and will be available on the project’s Web site.

The Economic Mobility Project is working with a variety of research organizations and scholars. Another report, expected in the spring by the more conservative Heritage Foundation, will focus on explanations for the trends described in the study coming out this week, the Times reported. —Charles Huckabee