The undermatch between low-income students' academic achievement and college destinations has become increasingly important in discussions of higher education access and equity. This study investigates whether low-income students are undermatched in their college choice, and if so, what factors are related to the undermatching. Specifically, this…

What does it mean when a school, having rejected a child who applied for admission, explains that he or she just "isn't a good fit" with the school? At times, it is not clear how the decision to prevent a child from enrolling is best described as a lack of fit, particularly if the school's goals and priorities (a) correspond to what most parents…

Enormous variation exists among nations and regions in their inclusive education provisions. In addition to comparisons based on policy documents and figures, in-depth and contextually grounded comparative studies involving qualitative data based on stakeholder experiences are needed, especially between western and Asian regions or nations where…

About 16 percent of veterans use the GI Bill to attend private institutions, roughly the same proportion as students generally. But at the most highly selective colleges, veterans using the Post-9/11 GI Bill barely fill a single classroom--38 at Penn, 22 at Cornell, and at Princeton, just one. The sparse numbers do not go unnoticed, veterans say.…

Although student retention, persistence, and graduation is a high priority for institutions and policymakers, graduation rates are not improving. Nowadays, more students from first-generation and low-income backgrounds have access to traditional higher education. In this essay, the author argues that an educational system that fails to prepare…

One hundred and twenty students successful at entering four of the most famous French "grandes ecoles" ("Ecole Normale Superieure" Ulm, Polytechnique, HEC, Sciences Po) were questioned about their institution's image. We focus on how the prestige of these institutions in the French society played a role in students' attraction…

Today a college degree is considered the ticket to a good job and the gateway to economic advancement. A student's chances of gaining admission to college, however, are often based more on parental wealth than the student's achievements. At the nation's most selective colleges, three percent of incoming freshmen come from families in the bottom…

In this article, we use our experiences to demonstrate the limits of the "studying up" metaphor to capture the complexity of the dynamics involved in doing research on groups that occupy positions of power within social hierarchies. The article focuses on different facets of the research process, alternating between our individual narratives and a…

Latinos make up the fastest growing population in the United States. However, this group has some of the lowest educational outcomes (Gandara & Contreras, 2009). Although large numbers of Latinos fail to achieve high levels of academic success, some Latinos are able to accomplish educational outcomes that compare with those of the most…

In order to improve the academic and cultural transition of low income, disadvantaged, first-generation, and working-class students at a public flagship institution, the purpose of this qualitative study is to listen as these students, with increasingly diverse background experiences, narrate their first-year experiences, including the summer…

The "Assisted Places Scheme" was introduced in 1980 by the Conservative Government to provide a "ladder of opportunity" for academically able students from poor homes. Over the next 17 years, more than 75,000 pupils received means-tested assistance from public funds to attend the most selective and prestigious private schools…

The homepage of the Project on Fair Representation (POFR) features a smiling photo of Abigail Fisher, the young White woman at the center of "Fisher v. the University of Texas," which could end race as a criterion in university admissions. Edward Blum, founder of POFR, a conservative advocacy group, connected Fisher with Wiley Rein LLP,…

This article focuses on historical admissions policies and offers a more nuanced and more substantial treatment of the relationship between Populism and higher education. Prior accounts of admissions in the late nineteenth century have sensibly focused upon the tension between secondary school leaders who were mindful of their multiple…

Beginning in the 1970s, many school US school districts reallocated their already scarce resources from local schools to specially created magnet schools. Many of these magnet schools have some sort of entrance exam, portfolio, or audition requirement that students must pass in order to gain admission. These selective magnet schools are predicated…

It has been widely claimed that UK students from relatively disadvantaged backgrounds but nevertheless having the potential to benefit from a degree programme are being denied higher education places because of their relatively poor paper qualifications. As a consequence, the claim continues, students from independent schools have an advantage in…