Transition After High School: Should Everyone Be Encouraged To Go To College?

This study examines the motivating factors and demographics for students pursuing a postsecondary education. College was once thought to be only for people of a particular social class or those with college-educated parents. The current expectation is all students, even those with low academic achievement, are expected to go to college. Ninety-five percent of high school graduates are college-bound, yet less than one-third have a bachelor’s degree or higher by age 30 to 34 according to James E. Rosenbaum, author of the book Beyond College for All: Career Paths for the Forgotten Half. The data presented in this article was collected from surveys completed by 74 general psychology students at Boise State University. The results indicate that college students are not necessarily from a high or middle socioeconomic status. Adolescents are more likely than their parents to enroll and attend college, regardless of their parents’ education level. According to research from Jacquelynne Eccles, Mina N. Vida, and Bonnie Barber, students enrolled full-time at age 20 were from families with higher incomes and whose mothers were more educated. My data contradicts this finding because parental education levels had no influence as to whether the adolescent Boise State Universit