Socioeconomic Class

CSHE Research Cited in EdSource Amid UC Standardized Testing Debate

June 10, 2026

As the University of California Academic Senate deliberates whether to recommend reinstating standardized testing for freshman applicants, research from the Center for Studies in Higher Education (CSHE) is playing a central role in the systemwide conversation.

A recent EdSource report, "UC freshmen increasingly are not ready for college math. Some professors want to require the SAT again," highlights a sharp division among UC faculty. While over 1,400 STEM faculty members have signed an open letter advocating for the return of the SAT/ACT to gauge math readiness, opponents of high-...

Generative AI use and misuse call for assessment reform in higher education. Science 392,818-820(2026)

Igor Chirikov
Ivan Smirnov
Rene Kizilcec
2026

The debate about the impact of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) on higher education is polarized. Some portray GenAI as normalizing cheating at scale, whereas others argue that misconduct patterns have changed little. These competing narratives underscore the need for reliable data on where GenAI use is concentrated and where misuse is most likely. Existing studies of GenAI adoption and perceptions in higher education provide useful early signals but often rely on small samples and lack measures designed to capture sensitive behaviors such as...

NORM-REFERENCED TESTS AND RACE-BLIND ADMISSIONS: The Case for Eliminating the SAT and ACT at the University of California by Saul Geiser, UC Berkeley CSHE 15.17 (December 2017)

Saul Geiser
2017

Of all college admission criteria, scores on nationally normed tests like the SAT and ACT are most affected by the socioeconomic background of the student. The effect of socioeconomic background on test scores has grown substantially at University of California over the past two decades, and tests have become more of a barrier to admission of disadvantaged students. In 1994, socioeconomic background factors—family income, parents’ education, and race/ethnicity—accounted for 25 percent of the variation in test scores among California high school graduates who applied to UC. By 2011, they...

Jeffrey, W. (2025). Stability or Change? Positional Advantage in Education by Social Origin Amid Educational Expansion in the U.S. CSHE Higher Education Working Paper Series Vol. 25-1

Jeffrey, Wesley
2025

While a growing number of international studies are beginning to examine trends in educational stratification amid expansion, we still know relatively little about the case of the United States. In this analysis, I harmonize across five nationally representative datasets to quantify and compare vertical versus horizontal dimensions of educational stratification by social origin, and to test for change over time. Building upon a positional lens of educational credentials allows for a more holistic view of the multiple paths that privileged students may pursue to both gain and maintain...

The Revolution of the Dons, Cambridge and Society in Victorian England by Sheldon Rothblatt (1968)

Sheldon Rothblatt
1968

This sensitive and lively 1968 history made an important contribution to our understanding of the relationship between higher education and social change in nineteenth-century England, showing how the internal life of an ancient university was affected by historic events extrinsic to it. The role that university was required to play in society was being forced to evolve: no longer a finishing school for the aristocracy, universities were becoming a place of professional training for the middle classes. This required a new generation of dons to relate tradition to the ideals of the...

ROLE MODEL EFFECTS OF FEMALE STEM TEACHERS AND DOCTORS ON EARLY 20TH CENTURY UNIVERSITY ENROLLMENT IN CALIFORNIA by Zachary Bleemer CSHE 10.16 (December 2016)

Zachary Bleemer
2016

What was the role of imperfect local information in the growth, gender gap, and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) major selection of early 20th century American universities? In order to examine pre-1950 American higher education, this study constructs four rich panel datasets covering most students, high school teachers, and doctors in the state of California between 1893 and 1946 using recently-digitized administrative and commercial directories. Students attending large California universities came from more than 600 California towns by 1910, with substantial...

STUDENT EXPOSURE TO SOCIAL ISSUES AND CORRELATIONS WITH VOTING: Gauging the Impact on Economically Disadvantaged Students at Major Public American Universities by V. Porterfield CSHE 5.17 (April 2017)

V. Porterfield
2017

Higher levels of civic and community engagement in higher education are positively associated with students’ academic performance and they also build upon citizenship skills such as informed voting. Yet, while these are worthy and important outcomes of higher education, students from disadvantaged backgrounds can have more difficulty navigating civic engagement. Focusing on students at thirteen major public universities in the United States, and utilizing survey data generated by the Student Experience in the Research University (SERU) Consortium, this study suggest social perspective-...

WEALTH, COST, AND THE UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT EXPERIENCE AT LARGE PUBLIC RESEARCH UNIVERSITIES

Steve Chatman
2011

Relying primarily on the responses of a proportionally weighted sample of undergraduate students attending eighteen major public research universities (N > 300K, responses from > 130K, n > 40K) that are part of the Student Experience in the Research University Consortium, this paper concludes that students from households at all income levels have been impacted by the increasing expense of higher education. The large majority of students from households at all income levels have changed behaviors to make college more affordable. However, the most remarkable result was that...

DIVERSITY MATTERS: New Directions for Institutional Research on Undergraduate Racial/Ethnic and Economic Diversity

Gregg Thomson
2011

This paper reviews the new directions in institutional research on undergraduate racial/ethnic and socioeconomic diversity at the University of California, Berkeley. The use of SERU/UCUES and other web-based census surveys has made possible more detailed and extensive analysis of student diversity. Included is research on an expanded number of racial/ethnic groups and on multiracial students, the significance of the African American experience, implications of the new IPEDS racial/ethnic reporting requirements, and a closer examination of Pell Grant and first-generation college...

DO I BELONG HERE? Exploring Immigrant College Student Responses on the SERU Survey Sense of Belonging/Satisfaction Factor

Michael J. Stebleton
Ronald L. Huesman, Jr.
Aliya Kuzhabekova
2010

The immigrant college student population will likely continue to increase. This exploratory study addresses the questions: To what extent does sense of belonging/satisfaction of recent immigrant college students differ from non-immigrant college students? Do perceived self-ratings of belonging vary by immigrant generations? This research draws on a new extensive data source, the Student Experience in the Research University (SERU) survey. Survey data from the 2009 SERU is based on the responses from 55,433 undergraduate students from six-large research institutions from across the...