Month In Review

Education
June,1996

Education And Dollars

A new study claims that family income is a crucial factor in determining teenage students' expectations for higher education and the type of institution they will attend. This was one of the conclusions of a study by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago, which tracked 25,000 teenagers over a six year period.

It found that income counts more than race, ethnicity, sex or scores on achievement tests in determining a student's educational future, although the study's authors caution that the results are open to various interpretations.

Some of the findings:

• Some 48 percent of those in the lowest income group attended two-year community colleges and only 37 percent in that group attended four-year institutions.

• In contrast, 74 percent of those in the most affluent quarter of the group attended four-year schools, while 23 percent attended two-year institutions.

• In 1988, 66 percent of the then eighth-graders expected to earn at least a bachelor's degree and 22 percent said they anticipated some post-secondary education.

• By 1994, nearly 63 percent of this group had attended some sort of post-high school education.

Of those, about 57 percent attended a four-year institution, 36 percent attended a two-year institution and 7 percent attended a trade or technical school for less than two years.

• More women than men reported in 1992 that they expected to obtain bachelor's or higher degrees, and woman also reported being more concerned than men about the prestige of the institution they chose.

• Asians and Pacific Islanders, more than any other racial or ethnic group, said they expected to earn bachelor's degrees or higher -- and more of them than any other group had graduated from high school and enrolled in post-secondary education by 1994.

• Hispanics, more than any other group, enrolled in public two-year institutions, while blacks enrolled in private four-year colleges at rates comparable to Asians and whites.

Source: William F. Honan, "Report Finds That Income Best Predicts Education," New York Times, June 17, 1996.