Socioeconomic Status and Its Effects on Higher Education Opportunity: The Case of Greece

Abstract

Gaining access to higher education theoretically enables social mobility for students from lower socioeconomic classes but students from lower-income, working class families are much less likely to attend university. Data from a sample survey of over 2000 Greek university freshmen were analyzed using multiple linear regression analysis to identify factors influencing the affordability of a first-year university education in Greece. Results showed that family income is the strongest predictor of the affordability of higher education in Greece and that a university education is substantially more affordable for the upper socioeconomic or management classes in Greece compared to that for working class families. This finding partially explains why families from the upper socioeconomic strata in Greece invest the most in preparing their children for university admission. This also helps explain why approximately 80% of the first-year university slots are occupied by “management class” families. While the average Greek family invests almost half of their annual income to support a child’s university education, the families of working class families sacrifice almost 60% of their annual income to achieve the same goal, something they can much less afford to do. It should come as no surprise then that the children of working class families occupy only one in five classroom seats in the Greek system of higher education. More research is needed to understand the underlying causes of this disparity. Alternatively, more can be done from a social policy perspective to help promising low-income secondary students become better prepared academically for pursuing and applying to institutions of higher education in Greece.