Socioeconomic Status and Academic Achievement
You often hear that the United States is a place of equality, however, equality does not run deep within our educational system. This is of major concern as a higher education more often than not leads to better occupational and economic outcomes. When we divide student’s up based on certain socioeconomic factors, the inequality in our educational system can truly be seen. Socioeconomic status (SES) in particular refers to the social class of an individual or group and is commonly based on factors such as income, education, and occupation. There is a stark relationship between a student’s SES and their academic achievement. The preparation a student receives for college, the college they attend, and there chances of completing college are all influenced by their SES.
College Preparation
Being well prepared for college is crucial to being successful in academia. Unfortunately, students that come from a lower SES background, are often times less college ready than their peers. Certain students not yet deemed for college will have to take remedial courses and a “Fully 63 percent of students in the lowest socioeconomic quartile took a developmental course in college compared with only 25 percent of students in the highest quartile” according to a journal article by Melissa Roderick. Lower SES students are often times viewed as less capable by teachers and faculty, which contributes to the lack of college preparation. These students also tend to be in classes with students of similar backgrounds due to the tracking system high schools follow, which often times place students in courses below their abilities. This is significant because as Kate Choi noted in one of her publications, “Students with higher levels of exposure to students with college-educated parents are more likely to enroll in college”. This entails that SES also influences whether a student even enrolls in college or not.
College Choice
The college a student attends is also influenced by their SES. This is important for a number of reasons. For one, certain schools provide better resources for their students, which leads to a more successful educational journey. As Marvin Titus points out, “the chance of college completion is positively influenced by enrolling in a private institution”. The school you attend is also crucial in that it influences future job opportunities and the education you receive. Unfortunately, lower SES students tend to attend schools that are looked upon less favorably. This makes the inequality in our education system that much more evident.
College Completion
Another part of the educational journey that SES affects is the actual completion of college. This is extremely problematic as a four-year college degree is the milestone that separates the middle class from the working class nowadays. Students from lower SES backgrounds often times are reluctant to cross social class boundaries and therefore end up dropping out before completing their degree. SES also affects the time in which a student is expected to finish college. This is detrimental as they usually have more unmet financial need and find themselves having to work more hours than their counterparts. This takes away from time that could be used to study or do homework. This unmet financial need also forces certain students to take out loans in order to finish their schooling. To many it does not seem financially worth it and they opt to drop out instead of being burdened by student loans for a good chunk of their life.
Conclusion
I’ve explored just some of the many ways that SES affects academic achievement. It is clear that an inequality exists among students of different SES backgrounds. Policy makers need to focus on how to better prepare lower SES students for college as well as figure out how to incorporate these students in more diverse institutions in order to bring forth equality in our educational system. I hope that by raising awareness to this issue it might help lead to a better and brighter future for those students currently being put at a disadvantage by our schooling system.
