The importance of cultural and economic influences behind the decision to attend higher education

This paper examines the relationship between economic and cultural variables and the decision to attend university. We find that a student is more likely to aspire to attend university if: they have the internet at home; are encouraged by their teachers; or attend a Catholic or independent school rather than a public school. Our analysis also suggests that the level of parent support is important (with a marginal effect larger than that for teacher encouragement) and this level of support may be linked to the parent’s level of educational attainment. Importantly, we find that including cultural and economic variables in a model of students’ aspirations significantly increases the power to predict when a student does not aspire to attend university. JEL Classification: Z1, D10, D63.