Fields of Study Chosen by First-Generation College Students from Economically Established Families: An Added Aspect of Horizontal Stratification in Israeli Higher Education
Hana Ayalon, ayalon@post.tau.ac.il
The paper analyzes the status of first-generation college students from economically established families in the horizontal stratification of Israeli higher education. The study is based on the assumption that children from economically established backgrounds will wish to attain higher education while maintaining the economic advantages of their parents, a goal which can be realized by studying fields which lead to lucrative employment. The study hypothesizes that, due to the selective admission requirements of universities in these fields, first-generation male students will capitalize on their parents' economic standing in order to enroll in expensive private colleges where they can study their chosen field. Due to the tendency of women to pursue non-lucrative fields, their choices of institution and field are presented as a research question. Applying multinomial logistic regression on a sample of about 8,000 college and university first-year students taken in 2013-14, the results reveal that, contrary to the expectations, the hypothesis is mainly corroborated for women, who enrolled in private colleges in order to study law and business. First-generation male students, regardless of their parents' economic circumstances, preferred to study engineering, which is mainly offered in public colleges. The paper discusses the implications of the findings on horizontal stratification in higher education research.
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