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Who actually goes to university?

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The Economics of Education and Training

Part of the book series: Studies in Empirical Economics ((STUDEMP))

Abstract

Access to higher education (HE) is a major policy issue in England and Wales. There is concern that children from lower socio-economic backgrounds are far less likely to get a degree. We analyse the changing association between socio-economic background and the likelihood of going to university, using data from the Youth Cohort Study (YCS), spanning the period 1994–2000. We find evidence of substantial social class inequality in HE participation but conclude that this is largely due to education inequalities that emerge earlier in the education system. Conditional on GCSE and A level performance, we find no additional role for socio-economic background or parental education in determining pupils’ likelihood of going to university.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. London School of Economics, University of Malaga and Centre for Economic Performance, Houghton Street, London, WC2A 2AE, UK

    Oscar Marcenaro-Gutierrez

  2. London School of Economics, Centre for Economic Performance, Houghton Street, London, WC2A 2AE, UK

    Fernando Galindo-Rueda

  3. Bedford Group, Institute of Education, University of London, 20 Bedford Way, WC 1H OAL, London, UK

    Anna Vignoles

Authors
  1. Oscar Marcenaro-Gutierrez
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  2. Fernando Galindo-Rueda
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  3. Anna Vignoles
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Economics, University College London (UCL), Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK

    Christian Dustmann  & Stephen Machin  & 

  2. Department of Economics, Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg, Platz der Alten Synagoge 1, 79085, Freiburg, Germany

    Bernd Fitzenberger

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© 2008 Physica-Verlag Heidelberg

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Marcenaro-Gutierrez, O., Galindo-Rueda, F., Vignoles, A. (2008). Who actually goes to university?. In: Dustmann, C., Fitzenberger, B., Machin, S. (eds) The Economics of Education and Training. Studies in Empirical Economics. Physica-Verlag HD. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-7908-2022-5_5

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