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Distance Effects, Social Class and the Decision to Participate in Higher Education in Ireland

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  • JOHN CULLINAN

    (National University of Ireland, Galway)

  • DARRAGH FLANNERY

    (University of Limerick)

  • SHARON WALSH

    (Economic and Social Research Institute, Dublin)

  • SELINA MCCOY

    (Economic and Social Research Institute and Trinity College Dublin)

Abstract

While a number of international studies have attempted to assess the influence of geographic accessibility on the decision to participate in higher education, this issue has not been addressed in detail in an Irish context. The aim of this paper is to fill this gap and to present a higher education choice model that estimates the impact of travel distance on the decision of school leavers to proceed to higher education in Ireland, while also controlling for a range of individual level characteristics and school related variables. To do so we use data from the 2007 wave of the School Leavers’ Survey and find that, on average, travel distance is not an important factor in the higher education participation decision, when factors such as student ability are accounted for. However, further analysis shows that travel distance has a significantly negative impact on participation for those from lower social classes and that this impact grows stronger as distance increases. We also find that the distance effects are most pronounced for lower ability students from these social backgrounds. This has important implications for higher education policy in Ireland, especially in relation to equity of access and the design of the maintenance grant system.

Suggested Citation

  • John Cullinan & Darragh Flannery & Sharon Walsh & Selina Mccoy, 2013. "Distance Effects, Social Class and the Decision to Participate in Higher Education in Ireland," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 44(1), pages 19-51.
    • Handle: RePEc:eso:journl:v:44:y:2013:i:1:p:19-51
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. John Cullinan & Kevin Denny & Darragh Flannery, 2018. "A Distributional Analysis of Upper Secondary School Performance," Working Papers 201806, School of Economics, University College Dublin.
    2. Helbig, Marcel & Jähnen, Stefanie & Marczuk, Anna, 2017. "Eine Frage des Wohnorts. Zur Bedeutung der räumlichen Nähe von Hochschulen für die Studienentscheidung in Deutschland," EconStor Open Access Articles, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, pages 55-70.
    3. Sørensen, Elise Stenholt & Høst, Anders Kamp, 2015. "Does distance determine who is in higher education?," MPRA Paper 74517, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Małgorzata Kłobuszewska & Magdalena Rokicka, 2016. "Do local characteristics matter? Secondary school track choice in Poland," Ekonomia journal, Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw, vol. 45.

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