Press Release: The Influence of Wealth and Race in Four-Year College Attendance

CSHE > News > Press Release: The Influence of Wealth and Race in Four-Year College Attendance

The Influence of Wealth and Race in Four-Year College Attendance

November 20, 2008 - In a new study published by the CSHE, Su Jin Jez studies the interrelated roles of wealth and race in determining access to higher education. Jez notes that although current research devotes significant attention to race and socioeconomic factors in college attendance, wealth’s role, as differentiated from income, is largely unexplored. Utilizing a nationally representative dataset, this study analyzes the role of wealth among students who attend four-year colleges, and explores the link between wealth and race among these students.

Jez applies a series of binary logistic regressions to test the hypothesis that wealth matters through the provision of differential habitus, social capital, and cultural capital supporting the college-going process. Her results indicate that while wealthier students are much more likely to attend a four-year college than their less wealthy peers, the influence of wealth is essentially eliminated once we consider academic achievement, habitus, and social and cultural capital. These data indicate that wealthier students garner advantages through increased academic preparation and through the characteristics of their upbringing, such as the type of school attended and parental expectations.


Jez's analysis also finds that controlling for wealth causes the disparities in four-year college attendance associated with race to disappear. Notably, the data reveal that Hispanic students are significantly more likely than white students to attend a four-year college in certain specifications, while black and Asian students are not significantly different from white students in any specification. This study's combined focus on wealth and race constitutes an important new perspective in studying the factors influencing access to higher education.

Info on Author(s)

Dr. Su Jin Jez is a Research Associate in WestEd's Regional Educational Laboratory West and Innovation Studies in San Francisco.

CONTACT:
Su Jin Jez
sgatlin@wested.org

More information