Family and high school experience influences on the postsecondary educational plans of ninth-grade students

The objectives of this study were to review the current literature on status attainment and student college choice and to develop and test a struc-tural model of predisposition to attend college. Family and student background characteristics, parents ' educational expectations for students, level of student involvement in school, and student achievement were cited as influences on students ' predisposition toward postsecond-ary education and were the chief components of the model. Data from 2,497 ninth-grade students and their parents were used to test the model using LISREL. Parents ' expectations exerted the strongest influence throughout the model. Parents ' education, student gender, high school GPA, and high school experiences also contributed significantly in ex-plaining students ' aspirations. DON HOSSLER is an associate professor in the School of Education, Rm. 226