This study examines the relationship between networks that provide high school students with “social capital for college” (SCFC) and their access to selective institutions. It also explores the link between racial disparities in access to selective colleges and the composition of students’ SCFC networks. Findings indicate that while composition of students’ SCFC networks did not vary by race, it was associated with significant differences in the selectivity of their first choice colleges. They also indicate that students in our sample who relied heavily on their peers for information related to college-going are less likely to pursue access to the most selective colleges.
AlexanderK. L.HolupkaS.PallasA. M. (1987). Social background and academic determinants of two-year versus four-year college attendance: Evidence from two cohorts a decade apart. American Journal of Education, 96, 56-80.
2.
AlonS.TiendaM. (2005). Assessing the “mismatch” hypothesis: Differences in college graduation rates by institutional selectivity. Sociology of Education, 78, 294-315.
3.
AstinA. W.HensonJ. W. (1977). New measures of college selectivity. Research in Higher Education, 6, 1-9.
4.
AuerbachS. (2007). From moral supporters to struggling advocates: Reconceptualizing parent roles in education through the experience of working class families of color. Urban Education, 42, 250-283.
5.
Barron’s profiles of American colleges 2001 (24th ed.). (2000). New York, NY: Barron’s.
6.
BeattieI. (2002). Are all “adolescent econometricians” created equal? Racial, class, and gender differences in college enrollment. Sociology of Education, 75, 19-43.
7.
BourdieuP. (1986). The forms of capital. In RichardsonJ. (Ed.), Handbook of theory and research for the sociology of education (pp. 241-258). Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
8.
BowenW. G.BokD. (1998). The shape of the river: Long-term consequences of considering race in college and university admissions. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
9.
BowenW. G.ChingosM. M.McPhersonM. S. (2009). Crossing the finish line: Completing college at America’s public universities. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
10.
BrandJ. E.XieY. (2010). Who benefits the most from college? Evidence for negative selection in heterogeneous economic returns to higher education. American Sociological Review, 75, 273-302.
11.
CarbonaroW. J. (1998). A little help from my friend’s parents: Intergenerational closure and educational outcomes. Sociology of Education, 75, 295-313.
12.
ColemanJ. S. (1988). Social capital in the creation of human capital. American Journal of Sociology, 94(Issue Supplement), S95-S120.
13.
ColemanJ. S.HofferT. (1987). Public and private high schools: The impact of communities. New York, NY: Basic Books.
14.
ConleyD. T. (2007). Redefining college readiness. Eugene, OR: Educational Policy Improvement Center.
15.
CorwinZ. B.VenegasK. M.OliverezP. M.ColyarJ. E. (2004). School counsel: How appropriate guidance affects educational equity. Urban Education, 39, 442-457.
16.
DaleS. B.KruegerA. B. (2002). Estimating the payoff to attending a more selective college: An application of selection on observables and unobservables. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 117, 1491-1527.
17.
DaleS. B.KruegerA. B. (2011, June). Estimating the return to college selectivity over the career using administrative earnings data (Working Paper No. 17159). Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research.
18.
DaviesS.GuppieN. (1997). Fields of study, college selectivity, and student inequalities in higher education. Social Forces, 75, 1417-1438.
19.
DikaS. L.SinghK. (2002). Applications of social capital in educational literature: A critical synthesis. Review of Educational Research, 72, 31-60.
20.
EspanshadeT. J.RadfordA. W. (2009). No longer separate, not yet equal: Race and class in elite college admissions and college life. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
21.
FalseyB.HeynsB. (1984). The college channel: Private and public schools reconsidered. Sociology of Education, 57, 111-122.
22.
FannA.JarskyK. M.McDonoughP. M. (2009). Parent involvement in the college planning process: A case study of p-20 collaboration. Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, 8, 374-393.
23.
Farmer-HintonR. L. (2008). Social capital and college planning: Students of color using school networks for support and guidance. Education and Urban Society, 41, 127-157.
24.
GonzalezK. P.StonerC.JovelJ. E. (2003). Examining the role of social capital in access to college for Latinas: Toward a college opportunity framework. Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, 2, 146-170.
25.
GranovetterM. S. (1973). The strength of weak ties. American Journal of Sociology, 78, 1360-1380.
26.
HearnJ. C. (1991). Academic and nonacademic influences on the college destination of 1980 high school graduates. Sociology of Education, 64, 158-171.
27.
HillL. D. (2008). School strategies and the “college-linking” process: Reconsidering the effects of high schools on college enrollment. Sociology of Education, 81, 53-76.
28.
HillL. D. (2012). Environmental threats to high school counseling strategies: Implications for college access among urban students. The Urban Review, 44, 36-59.
29.
HofferthS.BoisjolyJ.DuncanG. (1998). Parents’ extrafamilial resources and children’s school attainment. Sociology of Education, 71, 246-268.
30.
HollandN. E. (2011). The power of peers: Influences on postsecondary education planning and experiences of African American students. Urban Education, 46, 1029-1055.
31.
HollandN. E.Farmer-HintonR. L. (2009). Leave no school behind: The importance of a college culture in urban public high schools. The High School Journal, 92, 24-43.
32.
JencksC. (1979). Who gets ahead? The determinants of economic success in America. New York, NY: Basic Books.
33.
KaneT. J.RouseC. E. (1995). Labor-market returns to two- and four-year college. The American Economic Review, 85, 600-614.
34.
KarenD. (2002). Changes in access to higher education in the United States: 1980-1992. Sociology of Education, 75, 191-210.
35.
KimD. H.SchneiderB. (2005). Social capital in action: Alignment of parental support in adolescents’ transition to postsecondary education. Social Forces, 84, 1181-1206.
36.
LinN. (1995). Social networks and status attainment. Annual Review of Sociology, 25, 467-487.
37.
LongB. T.KurlaenderM. (2009). Do community colleges provide a viable pathway to a baccalaureate degree?Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 31, 30-53.
38.
ManskiC. F.WiseD. A. (1983). College choice in America. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
39.
MareR. D.WinshipC. (1988). Ethnic and racial patterns of educational attainment and school enrollment. In SandefurG. D.TiendaM. (Eds.), Divided opportunities: Minorities, poverty, and social policy (pp. 173-203). Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.
40.
McDonoughP. M. (1997). Choosing colleges: How social class and schools structure opportunity. Albany, NY: SUNY Press.
41.
McDonoughP. M.AntonioA. L. (1996, April8-13). Ethnic and racial differences in selectivity of college choice. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New York, NY.
42.
MorganS. L.SorensenA. B. (1999). Parental networks, social closure, and mathematics learning: A test of Coleman’s social capital explanation of school effects. American Sociological Review, 64, 661-681.
43.
MorganS. L.ToddJ. J. (2009). Intergenerational closure and academic achievement in high school: A new evaluation of Coleman’s conjecture. Sociology of Education, 82, 267-285.
44.
MorrowV. (1999). Conceptualising social capital in relation to the well-being of children and young people: A critical review. The Sociological Review, 744-765.
45.
NiuS. X.TiendaM.CortesK. (2006). College selectivity and the Texas top 10% law. Economics of Education Review, 25, 259-272.
46.
NoethR. J.WimberlyG. L. (2002). Creating seamless educational transitions for urban African American and Hispanic students (ACT policy report). Iowa City, IA: ACT.
47.
PernaL. W.TitusM. A. (2005).The relationship between parental involvement as social capital and college enrollment: An examination of racial/ethnic group differences. The Journal of Higher Education, 76, 485-518.
48.
PlankS. B.JordanW. J. (2001). Effects of information, guidance, and actions on postsecondary destinations: A study of talent loss. American Educational Research Journal, 38, 947-979.
49.
PortesA. (1998). Social capital: Its origins and applications in modern sociology. Annual Review of Sociology, 24, 1-24.
50.
RagunathanT. E.LepkowskiJ. M.Van HoewykJ.SolenbergerP. (2001). A multivariate technique for multiply imputing missing values using a sequence of regression models. Survey Methodology, 27, 85-95.
51.
ReamR. K. (2003). Counterfeit social capital and Mexican-American underachievement. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 25, 237-262.
52.
ReardonS. F.BakerR.KlasikD. (2012). Race, income, and enrollment patterns in highly selective colleges, 1982-2004. Stanford, CA: Center for Education Policy and Analysis, Stanford University.
53.
ReidM. J.MooreJ. L. (2008). College readiness and academic preparation for postsecondary education: Oral histories of first-generation urban college students. Urban Education, 43, 240-261.
54.
RoderickM.CocaV.NagaokaJ. (2011). Potholes on the road to college: High school effects in shaping urban students’ participation in college application, four-year college enrollment, and college match. Sociology of Education, 84, 178-211.
55.
RoderickM.NagaokaJ.CocaV.MoellerE. (2008). From high school to the future: Potholes on the road to college (Research Report). Chicago, IL: Consortium on Chicago School Research, University of Chicago.
56.
RossT.KennaG.RathburnA.KewalRamaniA.ZhangJ.KristapovichP.ManningE. (2012). Higher education: Gaps in access and persistence study. Washington, DC: Institute of Education Sciences. Retrieved from nces.ed.gov/pubs2012/2012046/tables/e-24-1.asp
57.
SandefurG. D.MeierA. M.CampbellM. E. (2006). Family resources, social capital, and college attendance. Social Science Research, 35, 525-553.
58.
SandefurR. L.LaumannE. O. (1998). A paradigm for social capital. Rationality and Society, 10, 481-501.
59.
Stanton-SalazarR. D. (1997). A social capital framework for understanding the socialization of racial minority children and youths. Harvard Educational Review, 67, 1-40.
60.
Stanton-SalazarR. D. (2010). A social capital framework for the study of institutional agents and their role in the empowerment of low-status students and youth. Youth & Society, 43, 1066-1109.
61.
Stanton-SalazarR. D.DornbuschS. M. (1995). Social capital and the reproduction of inequality: Information networks among Mexican-origin high school students. Sociology of Education, 68, 116-135.
62.
Stanton-SalazarR. D.SpinaS. U. (2003). Informal mentors and role models in the lives of urban Mexican-Origin adolescents. Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 34, 231-254.
63.
ThomasG. E.AlexanderK. L.EcklandB. K. (1979). Access to higher education: The importance of race, sex, social class, and academic credentials. The School Review, 87, 133-156.
64.
TierneyW. G.VenegasK. M. (2006). Fictive kin and social capital: The role of peers groups in applying and paying for college. American Behavioral Scientist, 49, 1687-1702.
65.
TurleyR. N. L.SantosM.CejaC. (2007). Social origin and college opportunity expectations across cohorts. Social Science Research, 36, 1200-1218.
66.
U.S. Department of Education. (2010). A blueprint for reform: The reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Alexandria, VA: Education Publications Center.
67.
WegenerB. (1992). Concepts and measurement of prestige. Annual Review of Sociology, 18, 253-280.
68.
YossoT. J. (2005). Whose culture has capital? A critical race theory discussion of community cultural wealth. Race Ethnicity and Education, 8, 69-91.
69.
ZhangL. (2005). Do measures of college quality matter? The effect of college quality on graduates’ earnings. The Review of Higher Education, 28, 571-596.
