Most parents would like their children to attend college after high school. But whether or not they expect it depends on the family’s ethnicity and the children’s high school performance, according to a recent U.S. Department of Education report.
The report, titled “Parent Expectations and Planning for College,” found that Asian families hold the highest expectations for their children’s higher education achievement.
Overall, the report looked at the percentage of parents who expected their students to attend college based on ethnicity; the students’ grade; and the parents’ income and living situation.
Eighty percent of Asian parents expected their children to attend some higher level of education, followed by 66 percent of white parents, 64 percent of black and Hispanic parents, and 53 percent of other ethnic groups, according to the report.
At the University, the overwhelming majority of enrolled students are white, non-Hispanic students, followed by Asian or Pacific islanders, Hispanics, African-Americans and Native Americans, according to the Office of the Registrar’s Web site.

Charles Martinez, vice provost of the Office of Institutional Equity and Diversity, was encouraged by the findings in the report.
“One of the things that stood out to me is how high the parents’ expectations are across ethnic groups for their students to attend post secondary education,” said Martinez.
Martinez said the findings of the report, as well as other studies, prove that it is a common misperception that students in traditionally under-represented backgrounds face barriers to attending some level of higher education because of lack of parent encouragement. This report, he says, further proves that parents from all backgrounds value a higher education for their children. It is the University’s job, then, to make such an education available to everyone, he added.
The University’s Office of Admissions, Office of Institutional Equity and Diversity, and Office of Multicultural Affairs all lead programs aimed at increasing diversity among students by offering programs that help students from traditionally under-represented backgrounds, said Brian Henley, interim director of admissions.
Martinez said University programs to promote diversity can be broadly broken into two categories: to first create access to the institution, and then to ensure success within the institution. The programs the University offers often become campus-wide efforts, he said.
The report also found that nationally, as students’ GPAs in middle school and high school fell, so did the percentage of parents who expected their children to obtain some level of higher education.
The report found that 86 percent of parents whose children earned mostly A’s thought their students would attend college, but parents’ expectations dropped dramatically for students who earned mostly B’s.
Of the freshman enrolled at the University in fall 2007, almost 50 percent earned a GPA of 3.5 or higher, according to the Registrar’s Web site.
The report also found that a higher percentage of two-parent families expected their children to attend some level of higher education than single-parent families. Additionally, families with higher income levels had greater expectations for their children.
Cara Miller, a junior studying business and Chinese, is a native Korean who was adopted by a white couple at 3 months old.
“It was always assumed that I would go to college; it was how I was raised … that college is a stepping stone to a career,” said Miller.
Other students at the University echoed this sentiment.
Teryll Evans, a sophomore international studies major, said that though her parents were open to whatever she wanted to do, they expected her to attain some level of higher education.
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