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Title: College Expectations for All? The Early Adult Outcomes of Low-Achieving Adolescents Who Expect to Earn a Bachelor's Degree
Resulting in 1 citation.
1. Martin, Anne
Gardner, Margo
College Expectations for All? The Early Adult Outcomes of Low-Achieving Adolescents Who Expect to Earn a Bachelor's Degree
Applied Developmental Science 20,2 (2016): 108-120.
Also: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10888691.2015.1080596
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Keyword(s): Achievement; College Degree; Depression (see also CESD); Educational Aspirations/Expectations; Educational Attainment; Income; National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (AddHealth)

Critics of the college-for-all ethos argue that it encourages low-achieving adolescents to develop unrealistically high expectations. This argument posits that low-achievers waste time and money, and risk disappointment and self-recrimination, pursuing college when they are unlikely to complete it. The present study uses two national data sets--Add Health and the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979--to test the proposition that expecting to earn a bachelor's degree (BA) puts low-achieving students at risk of disadvantageous early adult outcomes. Youth reported their educational expectations in high school, and their income-to-needs ratios and depressive symptoms were measured approximately a decade later. Results in both data sets suggest that the expectation of a BA was advantageous for all students, regardless of achievement level. Low-achievers who expected to earn a BA had higher educational attainment, higher income-to-needs ratios, and fewer depressive symptoms than low-achievers who did not expect to earn a BA.
Bibliography Citation
Martin, Anne and Margo Gardner. "College Expectations for All? The Early Adult Outcomes of Low-Achieving Adolescents Who Expect to Earn a Bachelor's Degree." Applied Developmental Science 20,2 (2016): 108-120.