Racial/ethnic differences in educational aspirations of high school seniors

Using the second follow-up of the National Education Longitudinal Study, we explore how human, financial, and social capital affect educational aspirations differently across racial/ethnic groups While individual educational performance is important for all racial/ethnic groups, human and financial capital haw stronger impact on educational aspirations Jar whites than for minorities. Asian-American students' aspirations are affected by human capital and whether English is a native language. Parental involvement in school activities-one measure of social capital has a strong impact on educational aspirations for African Americans and Hispanics. We then explore the causes for racial/ethnic differences in educational aspirations, When individual characteristics and human, financial, and serial capital are introduced, racial/ethnic minorities have greater cational aspirations than whites. The results suggest that factors affecting educational aspirations are different across racial/ethnic groups and some of the racial/ethnic differences in educational aspirations call be accounted for by some other factors.