Economically and Educationally Challenged Students in Higher Education: Access to Outcomes

Marybeth Walpole. Economically and Educationally Challenged Students in Higher Education: Access to Outcomes. ASHE Higher Education Report: Vol. 33, No. 3. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Paper: $29.00. ISBN: 978-04702-25356.

Walpole situates her review in the current context of unequal educational opportunity in higher education. She points to varying participation for different groups, with persistent gaps between low-SES and high-SES students, a major problem since higher education is considered to be a key component for social mobility. However, social class is difficult to define, and Walpole notes that researchers tend to use definitions that fit their specific studies and samples.

This observation smoothly transitions into a chapter that focuses on the development of the concept of social class, beginning with Marx's structural approach and Weber's notion of individual agency. Walpole observes that researchers use different components, including parental income, parental education, parental occupational status, or a composite of all three, resulting in research that becomes "de facto silos" (p. 14) as researchers use the definition that best fits their specific study. Because these approaches mesh well conceptually, if not operationally, she has developed her umbrella term of "economically and educationally challenged" students (EECs).

Going back to Marx and Weber and their notions of structure and agency, Walpole then dissects the predominant conceptual frames used to analyze the experiences of EECs, including status attainment models, human capital theory, the financial nexus model, Bourdieu's frameworks of cultural capital, social capital, and habitus, and critical race theory. Her conclusion is that...