New Perspectives on Access to Postsecondary Education - ARCHIVED

Recently, a group of researchers combined their efforts to provide new insights not only into issues pertaining to access to postsecondary education, but also persistence through to completion and other related issues, using data from the Youth in Transition Survey. This article summarizes their findings. Their research points to the need to take a broader perspective on the gaps that are observed, taking account of the roles of factors such as aspirations, motivations, engagement with school, study habits, and high school outcomes and related measured abilities. These latter factors, in fact, play key roles. Furthermore, the research finds that the development of such characteristics in young people is more closely related to parental education than to parental income and takes place over a period of many years.