Family Background and University Success: Differences in Higher Education Access and Outcomes in England
Claire Crawford, Lorraine Dearden, John Micklewright, and Anna Vignoles
Abstract
This book analyses why far fewer teenagers from disadvantaged backgrounds go to university than do young people from better-off families, and how success after entering higher education also varies by family background. It draws on rigorous quantitative research based on a wealth of data from administrative records of the school and university system in England. Results are presented in clear, easy-to-read graphs. Chapter 1 sets the scene, documenting the magnitude of the socio-economic gaps of interest, why they matter, and what the book offers. Chapter 2 asks why governments fund higher educ ... More
This book analyses why far fewer teenagers from disadvantaged backgrounds go to university than do young people from better-off families, and how success after entering higher education also varies by family background. It draws on rigorous quantitative research based on a wealth of data from administrative records of the school and university system in England. Results are presented in clear, easy-to-read graphs. Chapter 1 sets the scene, documenting the magnitude of the socio-economic gaps of interest, why they matter, and what the book offers. Chapter 2 asks why governments fund higher education and how this can be done. Chapter 3 describes how university teaching and students’ living costs are now funded in England, comparing with other countries. Chapter 4 considers the impact of the controversial increases in tuition fees in 2006 and 2012, and whether these changes have led socio-economic gaps in university applications and entry to widen. Chapter 5 dissects the key explanation for differences in university application and entry by family background, that is, differences in school attainment. Chapter 6 then considers when these attainment gaps emerge and hence when and how to intervene to increase the participation rates of poor students. Chapter 7 asks whether getting more poor students to university is enough or whether there are further family background differences in university drop-out, degree completion, and degree class. Chapter 8 considers differences in labour market success following graduation. Chapter 9 discusses the implications of the findings for government, universities, and students and their families.
Keywords:
Family background,
university entry,
drop-out,
degree class,
labour market,
tuition fees,
income contingent loans,
higher education,
widening participation,
England
Bibliographic Information
Print publication date: 2016 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780199689132 |
Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: November 2016 |
DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199689132.001.0001 |
Authors
Affiliations are at time of print publication.
Claire Crawford, author
Assistant Professor of Economics, University of Warwick
Lorraine Dearden, author
Professor of Economics and Social Statistics, UCL Institute of Education, University College London
John Micklewright, author
Professor Emeritus of Economics and Social Statistics, UCL Institute of Education, University College London
Anna Vignoles, author
Professor of Education (1938), University of Cambridge
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