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Abstract
Access to higher education has increased in recent decades; however, increased access has not led to parallel increases in degree completion among all types of students. Students of lower class backgrounds are consistently more likely to follow college paths associated with lower rates of degree completion. While scholars have examined the causes and consequences of short-term postsecondary enrollment patterns, or transitions, they have yet to examine the long-term trajectories students experience. Moreover, this research does not fully address how local state level context may influence these trajectories and their effects. Building on status attainment theory and the literature on educational transitions, my dissertation extends our understanding of this stratification process. I ask: (1) What is the empirical reality of the postsecondary trajectories students experience? (2) How do academic and social background factors shape the likelihood of students following particular postsecondary trajectories? And (3) How do postsecondary trajectories affect the timing and likelihood of earning a bachelors degree, and does the state level sociopolitical context amplify or mitigate this effect? Combining the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 with state level data sources, I create a unique dataset that situates individuals and their educational experiences within the local context in which they enroll. In my first empirical chapter, I utilize optimal matching sequence analysis techniques to uncover common educational trajectories. I find that there are five distinct postsecondary trajectories that students experience variants of: a traditional path, a lateral transfer path, a vertical transfer path, a two-year path and an unstructured path. I next use the trajectories as a dependent variable exploring what leads individuals on certain paths, and I find that the path one follows is shaped by both ascribed and achieved characteristics. Social class background has a particularly strong effect in shaping who follows which long-term postsecondary trajectory. The last two empirical chapters consider the consequences of trajectories, examining how they shape subsequent bachelors degree and income attainment. Findings suggest some paths are associated with greater attainment than others and that this effect is moderated by individual level factors and the state context in which a student is enrolled.