| Ronald Fernandes
Carnegie Mellon University
Can parental interventions reduce the ethnic gap in college enrollment? Evidence from the NELS:88
FINAL REPORT:
One issue of concern to policy makers has been the increasing returns to a college education. Another issue of concern is the lack of meaningful progress, so far, in eliminating the gap in college going between members of the largest racial and ethnic groups in the U.S. viz. non-Hispanic Whites, Blacks, Hispanics and Asians. Hispanics, among the fastest growing segments of the U.S. population, are expected to constitute a majority of the U.S. labor force by year 2015. However Hispanics are currently the most underrepresented among major racial/ethnic groups in terms of educational attainment (Vernez, Krop and Rydell, 1999). Of the students enrolled in Title IV institutions in the fall of 2000, 9.1 percent were Hispanic, 11 percent Black, non-Hispanic, 64.2 percent White, non-Hispanic and 5.9 percent were Asian/Pacific Islander students (Knapp et al. 2003 IPEDS data).
This report focuses on the pervasive influence of parental interventions on college enrollment using the Aspiration Motivation model. Nested logistic regression analysis is used to empirically test the model using data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88). The model postulates social-psychological mechanisms associated with enrollment in college. The findings are used to examine the relative validity and applicability of extant theories from evolutionary psychology, economics and sociology in explaining differential outcomes in college enrollment by gender and race/ethnicity. Gender-specific differences are examined to determine how successful racial/ethnic sub-group specific policy interventions could vary by gender.
The history of education policy indicates that direct economic support in the form of subsidies enables but does not ensure successful educational outcomes. Typing based on individual or family characteristics can lead to stereotyping and compensatory effects that may neutralize policy intended to help. The analysis suggests that typing based upon family structure can be misleading. The perceived benefits and disadvantages of living in a biological two parent family or alternative family structures differ by gender and by race/ethnicity. There is a need for policy interventions to move beyond such conventional categorizations for the purpose of devising solutions to the pressing problems of equity in educational attainment.
The results suggest that social-psychological attributes can favorably affect college enrollment decisions. Policy interventions relating to parental involvement, motivation and financial planning directly related to the college enrollment decision may enable policy makers to foster a more equitable distribution of enrollment patterns among various racial/ethnic groups in the future. New approaches need to be designed that categorize the various factors influencing educational outcomes not just by social class but also by social/psychological categories. Doing so may allow more efficient and effective returns on resources invested in promoting equitable distributions of educational resources and break the cycle of poverty.
The results also imply the success of policies that can directly address issues of parental aspiration, motivation and knowledge related to college education for their children. It recommends a holistic training of parents on the specific strategies needed to ensure that their children enroll in college. One approach may be to use the institutional infrastructure in higher education to accomplish this task. Federal or state funds directed towards such investments would be a useful alternative to existing programs addressing inequities in educational attainment outcomes.
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