Doctoral Dissertation Research: Social Class and Undergraduate Academic Achievement

University Of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia PA

Investigators

Abstract

SES-1334610 Camille Charles April Yee University of Pennsylvania Higher education is a critical pathway for social mobility in American society, yet significant social class disparities in access to and outcomes from higher education raise questions about the promise of this opportunity. Extant research fails to explain what actually happens in college to promote or hinder social mobility. Drawing upon more than 200 in-depth interviews and 800 hours of participant observation at a large, urban, public university, this dissertation research investigates how students from different social class backgrounds attempt to achieve academic success during the first two years of college. Early findings reveal that students from all social class backgrounds shared similar beliefs about college success, and that these beliefs changed over time. However, important differences emerged between their strategies for success, which resulted in unequal educational outcomes. This research offers a unique portrait of undergraduate daily life, as well as potential new explanations for the college achievement gap by social class and the reproduction of inequality through education. Broader Impact Research findings have potential practical implications for higher education policymakers and administrators who are increasingly focusing their attention beyond college access to college completion. By revealing the academic experiences of students from lower social class backgrounds, this study can inform the creation of retention policies and programs to help support the students who are most likely to leave college before graduating. In the United States today, a college degree has replaced a high school diploma as the requirement for entry into the middle class. What happens in college- whether students academically succeed or fail- points them towards divergent trajectories to adulthood, constrains opportunities to pursue various professional paths, and ultimately prepares them for a host of different life outcomes related to earnings, marriage, and health. Understanding inequality in academic achievement in college is therefore vital for understanding inequality in American society.