Peer Influences on the College-Going Decisions of Low Socioeconomic Status Urban Youth

Abstract

The roles that peers play in the decision to go to college are not well understood. Logistic regression is used to explore the role that peers play in the college-going decisions of a sample of low-income urban minority public high school graduates drawn from the National Education Longitudinal Study (NELS:88) database. Friends' plans are found to be the single best predictor of 4-year college enrollment for these low-income urban minority students, even when controlling for variables traditionally assumed to affect college going. These peer variables are stronger predictors of 4-year collegegoing behavior for this group than they are for a comparison sample of all U.S. high school graduates. These data are important for the formation of policies to improve all levels of college access programming.A college education is, now more than ever, critical for economic selfsufficiency and social mobility. The lifetime economic benefits afforded by college graduation are well documented, and growing. Between 1979 and 1993, the entry-level wage deferential between high school and college graduates more than doubled. The median 2004 income for men age 25 years and older who completed only high school was U.S. $31,624, whereas the median income for men with a bachelor's degree was 64% higher, $51,876. For women, high school graduates made $20,928 in 2004, whereas those with bachelor's degrees made $35,663, or 70% more (U.S. Census Bureau, 2004). This represents an increase over the 1997 discrepancies for men and women, and in our service and/or information economy we can expect this gap to continue to increase, even as the supply of highly educated workers surges (Donahue

Social Media in Higher Education

“…Another, related benefit of participating in social networking that Greenhow and Burton () describe is peer feedback. Numerous studies have documented the significant influence of peers on underrepresented students’ postsecondary education plans (Holland, ; Perna & Titus, ; Sokatch, ; Wohn et al., ). In his study on the college‐going decisions of low‐income urban minority students, Sokatch () found that friends’ plans were the single best predictor of 4‐year college enrollment.…”

“…Numerous studies have documented the significant influence of peers on underrepresented students’ postsecondary education plans (Holland, ; Perna & Titus, ; Sokatch, ; Wohn et al., ). In his study on the college‐going decisions of low‐income urban minority students, Sokatch () found that friends’ plans were the single best predictor of 4‐year college enrollment. In addition to friends’ plans, peer group expectations for group members can exert a positive pressure to pursue higher education opportunities (Holland, ; Perna & Titus, ; Sokatch, ; Wohn et al., ).…”

Socioeconomic Status and Asian American and Pacific Islander Students' Transition to College: A Structural Equation Modeling Analysis

“…While it is unclear if there are socioeconomic differences in the influence of peers on college-going behavior, evidence suggests that peers may be more important for those who lack support elsewhere, such as low-income urban minorities and those whose parents have no college education (Choy, Horn, Nunez, & Chen, 2000;Sokatch, 2006). Indeed, if low-income or firstgeneration students are not exposed to high educational expectations or academic orientations at home, it could be hypothesized that peers play an even more important role in providing that positive influence.…”

Table of Contents

“…Second only to parents, peers play a particularly large role in college readiness and are highly infl uential during the developmental period that coincides with the traditional high school years (Sokatch, 2006). e peers with whom students most frequently come into contact strongly aff ect school success (Coleman and others, 1966;Crosnoe, 2000).…”