IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecoedu/v78y2020ics0272775720305240.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Is ‘first in family’ a good indicator for widening university participation?

Author

Listed:
  • Adamecz-Völgyi, Anna
  • Henderson, Morag
  • Shure, Nikki

Abstract

Universities use ‘first in family’ or ‘first generation’ as an indicator to increase the diversity of their student intake, but little is known about whether it is a good indicator of disadvantage. We use nationally representative, longitudinal survey data linked to administrative data from England to provide the first comprehensive analysis of this measure. We employ parametric probability (logit) and non-parametric classification (random forest) models to look at its relative predictive power of university participation and graduation. We find that being first in family is an important barrier to university participation and graduation, over and above other sources of disadvantage. This association seems to operate through the channel of early educational attainment. Our findings indicate that the first in family indicator could be key in efforts to widen participation at universities.

Suggested Citation

  • Adamecz-Völgyi, Anna & Henderson, Morag & Shure, Nikki, 2020. "Is ‘first in family’ a good indicator for widening university participation?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecoedu:v:78:y:2020:i:c:s0272775720305240
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econedurev.2020.102038
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0272775720305240
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.econedurev.2020.102038?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jake Anders, 2012. "What's the link between household income and going to university?," DoQSS Working Papers 12-01, Quantitative Social Science - UCL Social Research Institute, University College London.
    2. Vignoles Anna F & Powdthavee Nattavudh, 2009. "The Socioeconomic Gap in University Dropouts," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 9(1), pages 1-36, April.
    3. Maurin, Eric & McNally, Sandra, 2005. "Vive la revolution! Long term returns of 1968 to the angry students," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 3656, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    4. Haroon Chowdry & Claire Crawford & Lorraine Dearden & Alissa Goodman & Anna Vignoles, 2013. "Widening participation in higher education: analysis using linked administrative data," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 176(2), pages 431-457, February.
    5. Jo Blanden & Stephen Machin, 2013. "Educational Inequality and The Expansion of UK Higher Education," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 60(5), pages 578-596, November.
    6. Adamecz-Völgyi, Anna & Henderson, Morag & Shure, Nikki, 2020. "Is ‘first in family’ a good indicator for widening university participation?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    7. Jake Anders, 2012. "The Link between Household Income, University Applications and University Attendance," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 33(2), pages 185-210, June.
    8. Walker, Ian & Zhu, Yu, 2018. "University selectivity and the relative returns to higher education: Evidence from the UK," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 230-249.
    9. Jack Britton & Lorraine Dearden & Neil Shephard & Anna Vignoles, 2016. "How English domiciled graduate earnings vary with gender, institution attended, subject and socio-economic background," IFS Working Papers W16/06, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    10. Suhonen, Tuomo & Karhunen, Hannu, 2019. "The intergenerational effects of parental higher education: Evidence from changes in university accessibility," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 195-217.
    11. Gill Wyness, 2010. "Policy changes in UK higher education funding, 1963-2009," DoQSS Working Papers 10-15, Quantitative Social Science - UCL Social Research Institute, University College London.
    12. Henderson, Morag & Shure, Nikki & Adamecz, Anna, 2019. "'First in Family' University Graduates in England," IZA Discussion Papers 12588, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. Janet Currie & Enrico Moretti, 2003. "Mother's Education and the Intergenerational Transmission of Human Capital: Evidence from College Openings," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 118(4), pages 1495-1532.
    14. Claire Crawford, 2014. "Socio-economic differences in university outcomes in the UK: drop-out, degree completion and degree class," IFS Working Papers W14/31, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    15. Raj Chetty & Nathaniel Hendren & Patrick Kline & Emmanuel Saez & Nicholas Turner, 2014. "Is the United States Still a Land of Opportunity? Recent Trends in Intergenerational Mobility," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(5), pages 141-147, May.
    16. David Neumark & Harry Holzer, 2000. "Assessing Affirmative Action," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 38(3), pages 483-568, September.
    17. Anna, Petrenko, 2016. "Мaркування готової продукції як складова частина інформаційного забезпечення маркетингової діяльності підприємств овочепродуктового підкомплексу," Agricultural and Resource Economics: International Scientific E-Journal, Agricultural and Resource Economics: International Scientific E-Journal, vol. 2(1), March.
    18. Hinrichs, Peter, 2011. "The effects of attending a diverse college," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 332-341, April.
    19. Rose, David & J. Pevalin, David, 2001. "The National Statistics Socio-economic Classification: unifying official and sociological approaches to the conceptualisation and measurement of social class," ISER Working Paper Series 2001-04, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    20. Paul Clarke & Claire Crawford & Fiona Steele & Anna Vignoles, 2015. "Revisiting fixed- and random-effects models: some considerations for policy-relevant education research," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(3), pages 259-277, June.
    21. Philip Oreopoulos & Uros Petronijevic, 2013. "Making College Worth It: A Review of Research on the Returns to Higher Education," NBER Working Papers 19053, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    22. Bertrand, Marianne & Hanna, Rema & Mullainathan, Sendhil, 2010. "Affirmative action in education: Evidence from engineering college admissions in India," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(1-2), pages 16-29, February.
    23. Peter Arcidiacono & Michael Lovenheim, 2016. "Affirmative Action and the Quality-Fit Trade-Off," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 54(1), pages 3-51, March.
    24. Estrella, Arturo, 1998. "A New Measure of Fit for Equations with Dichotomous Dependent Variables," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 16(2), pages 198-205, April.
    25. Eric Maurin & Sandra McNally, 2008. "Vive la Révolution! Long-Term Educational Returns of 1968 to the Angry Students," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 26(1), pages 1-33.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Anna Adamecz & Morag Henderson & Nikki Shure, 2024. "Intergenerational educational mobility – The role of non-cognitive skills," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(1), pages 59-78, January.
    2. Anna Adamecz-Völgyi & Morag Henderson & Nikki Shure, 2023. "The labor market returns to “first-in-family” university graduates," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 36(3), pages 1395-1429, July.
    3. Edwards, Rebecca & Gibson, Rachael & Harmon, Colm & Schurer, Stefanie, 2022. "First-in-their-family students at university: Can non-cognitive skills compensate for social origin?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    4. Adamecz-Völgyi, Anna & Henderson, Morag & Shure, Nikki, 2020. "Is ‘first in family’ a good indicator for widening university participation?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Anna Adamecz-Völgyi & Morag Henderson & Nikki Shure, 2023. "The labor market returns to “first-in-family” university graduates," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 36(3), pages 1395-1429, July.
    2. Anna Adamecz & Morag Henderson & Nikki Shure, 2024. "Intergenerational educational mobility – The role of non-cognitive skills," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(1), pages 59-78, January.
    3. Arnaud Chevalier & Colm Harmon & Vincent O’ Sullivan & Ian Walker, 2013. "The impact of parental income and education on the schooling of their children," IZA Journal of Labor Economics, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 2(1), pages 1-22, December.
    4. Bautista, M. A. & González, F. & Martínez, L. R. & Muñoz, P. & Prem, M., 2020. "Chile’s Missing Students: Dictatorship, Higher Education and Social Mobility," Documentos de Trabajo 18163, Universidad del Rosario.
    5. Black, Sandra E. & Devereux, Paul J., 2011. "Recent Developments in Intergenerational Mobility," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 16, pages 1487-1541, Elsevier.
    6. Bautista, María Angélica & Gonzalez, Felipe & Martinez, Luis R. & Muñoz, Pablo & Prem, Mounu, 2022. "The Intergenerational Transmission of College: Evidence from the 1973 Coup in Chile," SocArXiv eyw2a, Center for Open Science.
    7. Hasan,Amer & Nakajima,Nozomi & Rangel,Marcos A., 2020. "Mama Knows (and Does) Best : Maternal Schooling Opportunities and Child Development in Indonesia," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9355, The World Bank.
    8. Qiao Wen, 2022. "Estimating Education and Labor Market Consequences of China’s Higher Education Expansion," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-25, June.
    9. Britton, Jack & van der Erve, Laura & Belfield, Chris & Vignoles, Anna & Dickson, Matt & Zhu, Yu & Walker, Ian & Dearden, Lorraine & Sibieta, Luke & Buscha, Franz, 2022. "How much does degree choice matter?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    10. Meng, Xin & Zhao, Guochang, 2021. "The long shadow of a large scale education interruption: The intergenerational effect," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    11. Peter M. White & David M. Lee, 2020. "Geographic Inequalities and Access to Higher Education: Is the Proximity to Higher Education Institution Associated with the Probability of Attendance in England?," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 61(7), pages 825-848, November.
    12. Patrick Lehnert & Madison Dell & Uschi Backes-Gellner & Eric Bettinger, 2024. "The Effect of Postsecondary Educational Institutions on Local Economies: A Bird’s-Eye View," NBER Working Papers 32679, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Delaney, Judith M. & Devereux, Paul J., 2020. "Choosing differently? College application behavior and the persistence of educational advantage," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    14. Paul Heaton, 2008. "Childhood Educational Disruption and Later Life Outcomes: Evidence from Prince Edward County," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 2(2), pages 154-187.
    15. Suhonen, Tuomo & Karhunen, Hannu, 2019. "The intergenerational effects of parental higher education: Evidence from changes in university accessibility," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 195-217.
    16. Fernanda Estevan & Thomas Gall & Louis-Philippe Morin, 2019. "Redistribution Without Distortion: Evidence from an Affirmative Action Programme at a Large Brazilian University," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 129(619), pages 1182-1220.
    17. Marcel Fafchamps & Forhad Shilpi, 2014. "Education and Household Welfare," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 63(1), pages 73-115.
    18. Lukáš Lafférs, 2019. "Bounding average treatment effects using linear programming," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 57(3), pages 727-767, September.
    19. Francis-Tan, Andrew & Tannuri-Pianto, Maria, 2018. "Black Movement: Using discontinuities in admissions to study the effects of college quality and affirmative action," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 97-116.
    20. Adriana Duta & Cristina Iannelli, 2018. "Social Class Inequalities in Graduates’ Labour Market Outcomes: The Role of Spatial Job Opportunities," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 7(10), pages 1-18, October.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Higher education; Widening participation; First in family; Educational mobility; Machine learning; Predictive models;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions
    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecoedu:v:78:y:2020:i:c:s0272775720305240. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/econedurev .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.