From early aspirations to actual attainment: the effects of economic status and educational expectations on university pursuit

This study investigated the effects of economic status and the educational expectations of significant others on early university aspirations and actual university attainment. The study analyzed two-wave longitudinal data collected from 1,595 Taiwanese students in their 9th grade in middle school and in their freshman year at universities. The results revealed that economic status affected neither university aspirations nor university attainment. Among the significant others studied, parental expectations fundamentally affected university aspirations and teacher expectations consistently affected university aspirations and attainment. After considering economic status and educational expectations, early university aspirations remained strongly related to actual university attainment. Future research directions and practical educational approaches are recommended based on the aforementioned results.