Social Class Differences in How High-Achieving Students Decide to Attend College

• In Event: 34.098 - Sheraton Roundtable Session Four - Osgoode Ballroom
  In Roundtable Session: 34.098-2 - College and Class

Abstract

Social class impacts how students decide to attend college. I show that whereas higher-SES student assume from a very young age that they will attend college, most lower-SES students become certain of college attendance much later in their adolescent years. I argue that higher-SES students frame college attendance as inevitable and a natural progression of schooling. By framing college attendance as such, they assume that they will get into college and that college is merely another step in their educational journey. In contrast, lower-SES students frame college attendance as one of multiple options after high school. The end of high school represents a key transitional point for lower-SES students who must consciously decide to pursue college.

Author

• Yang Lor, University of California - Berkeley