Moving Away from One’s Origins: Predictors of Becoming a First-Generation College Graduate and Not Becoming a Continuing-Generation Graduate

Abstract

Nearly a third of students whose parents do not have bachelor’s degrees become first-generation college graduates and over a third of students with at least one parent with a bachelor’s degree do not become continuing-generation college graduates. We apply insights from social reproduction theory to study educational mobility, examining which factors are associated with becoming a first-generation college graduate and not becoming a continuing-generation college graduate. Drawing on data from The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, we find that students with low educational origins who become first-generation college graduates have parents who possess and pass down high levels of some resources for their educational level and are well equipped to use the resources they receive. Likewise, students with high educational origins who do not become continuing-generation graduates tend to have parents who possess few resources for their education level, pass down few of some resources, and are less well equipped to use the resources they receive. We discuss the implications of our findings for the openness of the American educational system.