Financing College: Changing College Expenditures across Households

• In Event: 3429 - Section on Sociology of Education Refereed Roundtables (1 hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: 1. Access to Higher Education

Abstract

In recent decades, children from families of diverse socioeconomic backgrounds increasingly attend college in the United States, even as postsecondary expenses climbed. To date, there has been little investigation into the implications of expanding enrollment and rising college costs for family finances. This study examines the trends in parental investment in their children’s higher education over time and across the income distribution. Building on prior research on parental investment, it tests two pathways that may shape distinct investment strategies among families with different income levels. Although parents’ investment in college remained stable between 1996-97 and 2016-17, the income-based differences in parental spending widened over this time period. Additionally, norms about investing in college remained stable over time, but also across the income distribution, suggesting the possibility that college-for-all ethos can be observed in household spending. Given these patterns, I discuss implications for educational opportunity and the maintenance of intergenerational inequality.

Author

• Kennan Cepa, University of Pennsylvania