First-in-family students target higher-earning courses

STUDENTS who are the first in their families to go to university are more likely to pick higher-earning degrees than those with graduate parents, a study has found.

Researchers from University College London analysed data from Next Steps, a longitudinal study of the lives and educational progression since secondary school of 7,700 people in England born in 1989-90. The most recent survey of the cohort, undertaken in 201516 at age 25, showed that first-in-the-family university students were 5 per cent more likely to study law, economics and management (LEM) – classed as “high-earning” subjects – compared with the children of graduate parents.

Researchers, who today published their findings in the Oxford Review of Education, found that within the sample group, these first generation students accounted for 79 per cent of people enrolled in business and administrative studies, and 75 per cent of students who read law at UK universities. These degrees generally rank near the top of graduate earnings tables, with LEM graduates earning an annual average of £29,536 four years after graduation, according to analysis of the report. Students with university graduate parents are were prone to choosing social sciences, arts and humanities, with average annual earnings of £23,712.

It was suggested these young people may prioritise “cultural capital” over earnings while first-in-the-family students value financial stability.

Dr Morag Henderson, lead author of the study and UCL associate professor of sociology, said: “My speculation is that first-in-the-family students see degrees as a means to a job, so they are making a rational degree choice.”

The study showed that by 25, just over a quarter of the cohort had a degree, two thirds of whom were the first family members to go to university. But compared with graduate parents’ children, first-in-the-family students were less likely to have attended an “elite” Russell Group university and were at greater risk of dropping out.

Dr Nikki Shure, of the UCL Institute of Education, and a report co-author, said: “We encourage all universities to think about what they can do for firstin-the-family students to have the best chance of fulfilling their potential.”