Empirical analysis 3: Access to tertiary education and dropout in Germany

Abstract

The last chapter showed that students who have at least one parent with a tertiary degree are more inclined to enter tertiary education after having started a non-tertiary vocational education than students with less well-educated parents. Hence, the resources of the parents and the motive of status maintenance seem to have an impact even at this late stage of the educational career. Late entry into tertiary education is an example of an upward transition in the education system because it leads to higher qualifications. In this chapter, I turn to a downward transition in the education system, namely, dropping out of tertiary education.

With the consent of the co-author, this chapter is based partly on the article ‘Müller, S., & Schneider, T. (2013). Educational pathways and dropout from higher education in Germany. Longitudinal and Life Course Studies, 4(3). doi:10.14301/llcs.v4i3.251’. The analyses and description have been revised fundamentally and additional analyses have been included. I am responsible for, prepared, and wrote everything presented here as well as in all other parts of this dissertation.