Getting to the Ivy League

Abstract

Introduction A primary tenet of American society revolves around access to positions of influence and equality of opportunity. Educational attainment provides the central vehicle through which upward mobility can occur. Consequently, educational researchers have long been concerned about the extent to which higher education has been accessible to all students regardless of socioeconomic and racial characteristics. This study examines patterns of attendance at four-year and selective four-year colleges across students from single- and two-parent families. In particular, we examine whether these students differ in their choice of colleges to which they apply, are admitted, and which they attend. The college-aged population is increasingly characterized by the experience of family disruption. Rising rates of divorce and illegitimate births imply that an increasing number of children either directly experience the breakup of their parents' marriage or never live in traditional two-parent families. Among those children born in 1950, 28% of whites and 60% of blacks had at some time lived with only one (or no) parent by age 17. Of children born twenty years later, 41% of whites and 75% of blacks can expect to live with fewer than two parents by age 17.(1) These figures imply that, in contrast to earlier cohorts, the experience of living in a single-parent home is increasingly common among children growing up in the late 1970s and 1980s. As family disruption becomes more prevalent, questions of equity and access arise if children from disrupted families are less likely to apply to and attend four-year colleges and selective four-year colleges. Differences in access might arise from two possible sources. First, disrupted and intact families may differ in the resources they can bring to bear to prepare their children for college. Second, the impact of these resources on college choices of children from disrupted and intact families may differ. Our results suggest that although both influences are present, differences in the levels of resources account for the largest proportion of the difference in the college choices between children from disrupted and intact families. Review of the Literature In a general review of the college choice literature, Hossler, Braxton, and Coopersmith (1989) identify several important correlates of college choice. These include family socioeconomic status, student academic ability and achievement, parental levels of education, parental encouragement and support, student educational aspirations about career plans, and quality of the high school. Although many of these factors vary with family composition, little attention is paid in this literature to the role family composition plays in college choices. There is also some research on the quality of colleges students choose (Baker & Velez, 1996). This literature is predominantly concerned with access to selective colleges. Much attention is given to the income characteristics or the socioeconomic status (SES) of the family of origin of those students attending selective colleges (Kingston & Lewis, 1989; Hearn, 1984). Here, the central question is to which extent elite colleges admit students on the basis of characteristics other than merit. Of course, these colleges and universities have explicitly turned to admissions policies using measures of ability and performance. However, the empirical question is whether these explicit policies are reflected in the characteristics of the matriculating class. Simple bivariate analysis suggests that attendance at highly selective schools is correlated with income and SES characteristics. More sophisticated multivariate analysis indicates that when one holds constant other admission criteria, such as high-school performance, SAT scores, and participation in extracurricular activities, the importance of income and SES fades but remains statistically significant. …