The study's hypotheses were that: (1) the structural factors of ethnic density, socioeconomic status and type of school were more important determinants of college aspirations than such psychological variables as locus of control, optimism level and level of satisfaction with self and with the school program; and (2) students who were aware of structural problems in society but who realized that the benefits out-weighed the costs tended to desire to go to college. A questionnaire was administered to 496 high school juniors and seniors (230 boys and 266 girls), ranging from 15 to 20 years, from two inner city high schools--one in the industrial Calumet Region of Indiana and the other northwest of the Loop in Chicago. The sample contained: students from a low and from a high Latino ethnic density school; Latino and non-Latino students; and college aspiring and non-college aspiring students. Data were subjected to six successive stages of analysis, using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. The findings generally upheld the hypotheses. Among the findings were: school support, or the extent to which school personnel supported students' college aspirations, was related to the desire to go to college at both schools; college aspiring students perceived more benefits to be gained from college than the non-college aspiring; and family ethnicity was slightly negatively associated with college aspirations among Latinos at the school with low ethnic density while no such association was found at the other school. (NQ)