Social Inequalities and Educational Attainment

Dear Colleagues,

All institutions of higher education face a demographic cliff beginning in 2025 given the shrinking number of high school students from which to recruit from, with colleges predicted to lose a significant number of first year enrollees, and with many colleges and universities having already seeing a decline in enrollments since 2010. In addition to the decline in the population of college-age students, recent polls of parents with children under the age of 18 found that fewer than half of all parents said it was extremely or very important for their child to earn a college degree, although almost 90% said it was extremely or very important for their child to have a job that they enjoy. Further, when we focus on race, Asian parents are far more likely to place a high degree of importance on their child attaining a college degree (7 in 10); about half of all Hispanic and Black parents place a high degree of importance on their child attaining a college degree; while only 29% of white parents found a college degree to be extremely important (Minkin & Horowitz, 2023). Finally, there are many more students of color attending college now than in the past, particularly students from low-income families. However, these students are primarily enrolled in two-year colleges or least-selective four-year colleges (Fry & Cilluffo, 2019). It is clear that while parents of low-income students, particularly students of color, desire for their children to earn a college degree, the obstacles preventing this are many.

This Special Issue of Social Sciences seeks to examine and shed light on this field by welcoming abstracts from scholars on the relationship between Social Inequalities and Educational Attainment by 29 February 2024, and the notification of the abstract acceptance deadline will be about 10 March 2024. Contributions are welcome on, but not limited to, these topics:

• The impact of poverty on college students;
• The race gap between those attending elite universities and those attending less selective colleges;
• The continued discrimination on college campuses by majority students against minority students;
• Persisting systemic inequities in higher education;
• New approaches and policies to reduce inequities among college students of color.

References

• Fry, R., & Cilluffo, A. (2019, May 22). A Rising Share of Undergraduates Are From Poor Families, Especially at Less Selective Colleges. Available online: https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2019/05/22/a-rising-share-of-undergraduates-are-from-poor-families-especially-at-less-selective-colleges/ (accessed on 5 September 2023).
• Minkin, R., & Horowitz, J. M. (2023, January 24). Parenting in America Today. Available online: https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2023/01/24/parenting-in-america-today/ (accessed on 5 September 2023).

Prof. Dr. Roseanne Mirabella
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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• higher education
• social inequalities
• race
• class
• elitism