Educational Expectations

Most high school students formalize their educational plans between 8th and 10th grades, suggesting that interventions to influence students’ educational aspirations are most likely to succeed if they take place by 8th or 9th grade (Hossler et al. 1999). Among 1992 high school graduates, educational expectations in both 8th and 12th grades varied considerably with parents’ education.

• High school graduates whose parents did not go to college tend to report lower educational expectations than their peers as early as 8th grade.

Lower educational expectations figure prominently in the lower postsecondary enrollment rates of students whose parents did not go to college. In the NELS survey, students were asked the following question in both 8th and 12th grades: "As things stand now, how far in school do you think you will get?" Overall, expectations were high, with all but 7 percent of 1992 high school graduates reporting in 8th grade that they expected to continue their education beyond high school (table 2). Seventy-three percent reported that they expected to earn at least a bachelor’s degree, and another 20 percent expected to complete some college or vocational training. Students’ expectations of earning a bachelor’s degree or higher increased sharply as their parents’ education rose—from 55 percent for those whose parents had no postsecondary education, to 71 percent for those whose parents had some college experience, to 91 percent for those whose parents had bachelor’s degrees or higher.

Regardless of parental education level, the percentage of students expecting to earn a bachelor’s or advanced degree did not change much between 8th and 12th grades (although it was not necessarily the same individuals reporting this expectation in both years). Among students whose parents had less than a bachelor’s degree, the percentage who expected to complete some post- secondary education (but less than a bachelor’s degree) increased between 8th and 12th grades. The percentage of these students who did not expect to continue their education beyond high school decreased.