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- Title
Deciding to Forgo College: Non-College Attendees' Reflections on Family, School, and Self.
- Authors
LINDHOLM, JENNIFER A.
- Abstract
This article, based on work funded by the American Association of University Women, examines how personal and environmental factors shape non-college attendees' decisions to forgo college directly after high school. Group interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of 48 racially diverse recent high school graduates (27 men and 21 women) who had not attended any 2-year or 4-year college since completing high school. All graduated from public high schools in Los Angeles, California, and were between 18 and 21 years of age at the time that were interviewed. Findings highlight study participants' current pursuits, their perspectives on college, the factors that influenced their post–high school life decisions (particularly home and school environments), and their reflections on whether they would do anything differently given the opportunity to turn back time. Considered within Persell's multidimensional framework, the findings lend support to the combined effects of societal, institutional, interactional, and intrapsychic variables in producing differential educational outcomes and post–high school life paths. Especially noteworthy is the transcendent effect across race, gender, and socioeconomic status of efficacy beliefs in shaping educational choices.
- Subjects
LOS Angeles (Calif.); CALIFORNIA; NONCOLLEGE bound students; HIGH school graduates; DECISION making; HIGHER education; PSYCHOSOCIAL factors; PUBLIC schools
- Publication
Teachers College Record, 2006, Vol 108, Issue 4, p577
- ISSN
0161-4681
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/j.1467-9620.2006.00661.x