Who Goes? The Direct and Indirect Effects of Family Background on Access to Post-secondary Education

Ross Finnie, Eric Lascelles and Arthur Sweetman ()

Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series from Statistics Canada, Analytical Studies Branch

Abstract: This research finds that family background (parental education level, family type, ethnicity, location) has important direct and indirect effects on post-secondary participation. The indirect effects of background operate through a set of intermediate variables representing high school outcomes and related attitudes and behaviours. Overall, the large fraction of the family background effect that operates through indirect channels indicates that the period of life before post-secondary financing and related issues become important is crucial for equitable and efficient post-secondary access. These results are based on two sex-specific measures of access (Any Post-secondary, and University) obtained from Statistics Canada's School Leavers and Follow-Up Surveys.

Keywords: Education; training and learning; Income; pensions; spending and wealth; Families; households and housing; Society and community; Students; Educational attainment; Household; family and personal income; Family history; Equity and inclusion (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu, nep-hrm and nep-soc
Date: Written
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Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:stc:stcp3e:2005237e

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