Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1959.3/206930

Title

The importance of cultural and economic influences behind the decision to attend higher education

Author(s)

Bowden, Mark P.;  Doughney, James

Abstract

This paper examines the relationship between economic and cultural variables and the decision to attend university. We find that a student is more likely to aspire to attend university if: they have the internet at home; are encouraged by their teachers; or attend a Catholic or independent school rather than a public school. Our analysis also suggests that the level of parent support is important (with a marginal effect larger than that for teacher encouragement) and this level of support may be linked to the parent's level of educational attainment. Importantly, we find that including cultural and economic variables in a model of students’ aspirations significantly increases the power to predict when a student does not aspire to attend university.

Publication type

Journal article

Research centre

Swinburne University of Technology. Faculty of Business and Enterprise

Source

Journal of Socio-Economics, Vol. 41, no. 1 (Jan 2012), pp. 95-103

Publication year

2012

FOR Code(s)

1117 Public Health and Health Services;  1402 Applied Economics

Keyword(s)

Cultural influences;  Decision making;  Economic influences;  Educational economics;  Ethnicity;  Higher education;  Schooling;  Socioeconomics

Publisher

Elsevier

ISSN

1053-5357

Publisher URL

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socec.2011.10.003

Copyright

Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Peer reviewed