The College Major Decision Process for Low-Income College Students: A Longitudinal, Interview-Based Approach

• In Event: 3213 - Problems in Educational Decision-Making

Abstract

Despite increases in bachelor’s degree (BA) completion among working-class students over the last several decades, not all degrees offer the same opportunities for social mobility. In particular, field of study choice accounts for significant stratification in labor market outcomes, while having an “undeclared” college major for extended periods increases the risk of college dropout. This study combines literatures in stratification, decision making, and cultural sociology to examine how working- and middle-class students attending three, public, commuter colleges make field of study decisions. Collecting longitudinal interview data with thirty freshmen over three waves, we identify four initial mechanisms differentiating students’ college major decisions: the availability of career models, a prioritization of stability, sensitivity to suggestion, and response to organizational practices. We then discuss the longitudinal consequences of these mechanisms using interview data and linked administrative data, finding that the four initial mechanisms constrain working-class students’ willingness to explore fields of study; lead them to primarily pursue “marketable” college majors; and result in gendered patterns of organizational reliance. Together, these findings demonstrate how class-based disparities, as well as cognitive perceptions and cultural narratives, stratify students’ college major decisions, while also showing how postsecondary institutions’ policies and practices serve to reproduce class-based career trajectories.

Authors

• Christina Ciocca Eller, Harvard University

• Kate Khanna, Columbia University