Accessibility to the PhD and Professoriate for First-Generation College Graduates: Review and Implications for Students, Faculty, and Campus Policies

Abstract

Parental education levels demonstrate a robust influence for educational achievement that cascades throughout the educational pipeline. This paper reviews and synthesizes research from multiple disciplines concerning educational pathways that appear to be influenced by parental education levels. Among other findings, the paper reports that first-generation college graduates - among the professoriate - tend to be under-represented at research universities and disproportionately represented at teaching-focused comprehensive universities. The paper also reviews evidence that business programs - in contrast with other fields - tend to attract proportional representation of students with respect to their parental education levels.

Keywords: parental education levels, educational achievement, educational access, first-generation college students, diversity

JEL Classification: I2