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Social Sciences
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The Class Divide in Higher Education: Compounding Privilege, Multiplying Barriers
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The Class Divide in Higher Education: Compounding Privilege, Multiplying Barriers

A special issue of Social Sciences (ISSN 2076-0760).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (2 September 2025) | Viewed by 1380

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Rachel F. Moran

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Law, Texas A&M University, 1515 Commerce Street, Fort Worth, TX 76102, USA
Interests: education law and policy; civil rights; legal policy related to latinos
Prof. Jonathan D. Glater

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Law, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
Interests: consumer law and protection; education law; racial and social justice

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue explores the ways that wealth-based disparities manifest themselves at every turn in systems of higher education in the United States and beyond.  The issue first will examine how wealth affects college admissions, beginning with the question of whether the use of standardized tests reinforces wealth stratification. This section will also discuss other criteria that may replicate privilege, such as preferences for the children of donors and alumni.

The second part of the issue considers how wealth affects the college experience. The articles will evaluate how financial exigencies undermine education as students struggle with food and housing insecurity, the need to work, student debt, and pressures to stop out or drop out due to limited funds. In addition, this section will address how wealth disparities affect students’ access to the social capital that colleges and universities, especially elite ones, provide.

The third portion of the issue will assess how wealth disparities influence outcomes. The articles will analyze the effects of student debt on critical life decisions such as marrying, buying a house, and pursuing an advanced degree. Authors will assess impacts on the promise of intergenerational mobility that has long been associated with a bachelor’s degree.

The final part of the issue will look beyond the United States to examine how wealth affects access to higher education throughout the world. These articles will offer insights on different nations’ efforts to promote higher education access. Reforms may include, among others, expanding systems of higher education, offering free tuition, and growing the pipeline of qualified students through improved elementary and secondary education.

Please submit your proposals and any questions to the Special Issue editor by 21 April 2025.

Prof. Rachel F. Moran
Prof. Jonathan D. Glater
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Social Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • wealth disparities and higher education
  • intergenerational mobility and higher education
  • wealth and higher education access
  • financial precarity and higher education
  • food insecurity and higher education
  • housing insecurity and higher education
  • wealth and disparities in higher education outcomes
  • wealth and global disparities in higher education access

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

23 pages, 284 KB  
Article
Structured Happenstance: Pathways Toward Upward Mobility Among First-Generation Latine College Students
by Clarissa Gutiérrez, Amado M. Padilla, Oswaldo Rosales, Miriam Rivera, Veronica Juarez and Michael Spencer
Soc. Sci. 2025, 14(11), 629; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci14110629 (registering DOI) - 27 Oct 2025
Abstract
Higher education is often positioned as a pathway to upward social mobility, yet access to highly selective universities (HSUs) remains limited, with first-generation college (FGC) students from low-income and ethnoracially minoritized backgrounds disproportionately constrained by structural barriers. This study applies an asset-based lens [...] Read more.
Higher education is often positioned as a pathway to upward social mobility, yet access to highly selective universities (HSUs) remains limited, with first-generation college (FGC) students from low-income and ethnoracially minoritized backgrounds disproportionately constrained by structural barriers. This study applies an asset-based lens to examine how a cross-generational team of six Latine FGC affiliates of an HSU (i.e., alumni, doctoral students, professor) resiliently persisted in their educational and professional journeys, leveraging cultural and social capital. Employing Chicana/Latina feminist methodology and dialogic inquiry, we engaged in pláticas to critically reflect on factors that shaped our life trajectories. Findings reveal that social mobility was negotiated collectively rather than individually, highlighting tensions between personal advancement and commitments to family and community. We also consider the role of structured happenstance in pivotal encounters (e.g., being recognized by mentors, recruited by scholarship programs) that appeared serendipitous but were situated within systems where opportunity is inequitably distributed. Structured happenstance exposes the precariousness of such pathways and systemic gaps in FGC student support, challenging the notion that access to elite, capital-rich institutions is the product of merit alone. Our narratives offer a nuanced portrait of how FGC students navigate social mobility across the life course. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Class Divide in Higher Education: Compounding Privilege, Multiplying Barriers)
22 pages, 931 KB  
Article
Toward 2030: Inequities in Higher Education Access in Southeast Asia
by Lin Wai Phyo and Sonia Ilie
Soc. Sci. 2025, 14(10), 592; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci14100592 - 4 Oct 2025
Viewed by 574
Abstract
The Sustainable Development Goals have galvanized efforts to improve access to higher education globally. While higher education has expanded over the last decade, access inequities endure, with economic deprivation, gender, and other dimensions of marginalization shaping individual opportunities to engage with higher education. [...] Read more.
The Sustainable Development Goals have galvanized efforts to improve access to higher education globally. While higher education has expanded over the last decade, access inequities endure, with economic deprivation, gender, and other dimensions of marginalization shaping individual opportunities to engage with higher education. Regional differences have also emerged, with some higher education systems growing at a rapid pace, driven by a variety of policy initiatives. This paper explores higher education access inequities in the Southeast Asian context, where a period of rapid higher education expansion has recently given way to complex patterns of access, against diverging national directions for higher education development. Using large-scale nationally representative data from the Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) and the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS), this paper traces patterns of inequitable higher education access in eight Southeast Asian countries over time. This paper then discusses country-specific policy initiatives, and the levers they deploy in trying to lower higher education inequities. It explores how these country-specific policy initiatives aiming at equality or equity in higher education access sit alongside periods of sector expansion and wealth-based gaps in higher education access, to conclude about potential policy shifts which may support work towards more equitable systems. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Class Divide in Higher Education: Compounding Privilege, Multiplying Barriers)
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18 pages, 281 KB  
Article
Explaining Wealth-Based Disparities in Higher Education Attendance: The Role of Societal Factors
by Yara Abdelaziz and Elizabeth Buckner
Soc. Sci. 2025, 14(10), 591; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci14100591 - 4 Oct 2025
Viewed by 327
Abstract
This article examines factors associated with wealth-based inequalities in higher education attendance at the national level. We draw on data from 99 countries to calculate two distinct country-level indicators for the extent of wealth-based inequality in higher education attendance, namely the dissimilarity index [...] Read more.
This article examines factors associated with wealth-based inequalities in higher education attendance at the national level. We draw on data from 99 countries to calculate two distinct country-level indicators for the extent of wealth-based inequality in higher education attendance, namely the dissimilarity index (D-Index) and the Human Opportunity Index (HOI). We then examine each indicator’s association with country-level factors using a series of regression models. We find that secondary completion rates, national wealth, economic inequality and the extent of political egalitarianism are all associated with wealth-based disparities in higher education access. However, there are important differences between indicators. Economic inequality is associated with disparities in access but not the level of overall access. In contrast, politically egalitarianism is associated with expanded educational access, but not wealth-based disparities alone. The study suggests that both economic and political equality are associated with higher educational outcomes. Yet, it also cautions that how we conceptualize and measure educational equity can shape our interpretations of the extent of a country’s educational equity. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Class Divide in Higher Education: Compounding Privilege, Multiplying Barriers)
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