An integrated approach to capital effects: Analysis of college going for the class of 2004

Lyssa Luise Thaden

doi:10.7273/000006192

Using data from the Educational Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS:2002), this dissertation focuses on the forms of capital (resources) at the individual, school and state levels that influence the probability of college enrollment. Chapter 1 provides an introduction to three interrelated articles that comprise Chapters 2 through 4. Chapter 2 examines whether students' background characteristics (gender, race, parental income, parent education) systematically alter the effects of different forms of capital (human, social and financial) on the probability of college enrollment. The results indicate that forms of human and financial capital that assist in the college planning process have the greatest impact - across students groups - in the likelihood of enrollment in to both two and four-year institutions. While differences in the impact of capital by each student group were found, students in the class of 2004 do utilize capital in ways more similar than distinct. Chapter 3 tests whether parallel forms of human, social and financial capital that exist at both the individual and school levels improve the likelihood of college enrollment in to two and four-year institutions. The results indicate that while individual-level factors continue to have the greatest impact on the probability of college enrollment, school-level human, social and financial capital measures also influence enrollment. Chapter 4 focuses on the financial capital deficit of low-income students, and seeks to determine if there are substitutable or complementary forms of capital at the individual or state level that might help to alleviate some of this deficit. The findings indicate that individual-level capital has a stronger influence on college enrollment than state-level capital. Individual-level actions, such as filing a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and completing additional financial aid forms, both help reduce the financial capital deficit of low and middle-income families. The lack of statistically significant results of state need-grant programs and in-state tuition rates for either low or middle-income students suggest that these students are becoming "priced-out" of higher education.

An integrated approach to capital effects: Analysis of college going for the class of 2004

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