Latinx/White Differences in Postsecondary Trajectories: The Role of Parents’ Preferences

Abstract

As postsecondary schooling expands, stratification in attainment persists along ethnoracial lines. We build on current research investigating ethnoracial differences in the transition to college by interrogating parents’ preference for their child’s residence during college. We extend research in two ways. First, we predict whether parents’ live-at-home preference is associated with behavior at multiple points in the college-going pipeline. Second, we investigate whether the effect of parents’ live-at-home preference differs by ethnoracial group. Results suggest that students whose parents prefer that they live at home are less likely to apply to four-year universities, less likely to attend four-year universities, less likely to enroll full-time among those who are attending four-year universities, and more likely to live with their parents or elsewhere off campus during college. Results also suggest that parents’ live-at-home preference has less of an impact on Latinx students’ likelihood of applying to and attending four-year universities than white students.