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Financing Children's Futures: Economic Strategies for Postsecondary Education Among Middle‐Income Families
Author(s) -
Tevington Patricia,
Napolitano Laura,
Furstenberg Frank F.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
sociological forum
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.937
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1573-7861
pISSN - 0884-8971
DOI - 10.1111/socf.12373
Subject(s) - futures contract , family income , vulnerability (computing) , sociology , loan , finance , economics , financial literacy , economic growth , postsecondary education , demographic economics , actuarial science , higher education , computer security , computer science
This paper, based on three waves of qualitative data with middle‐income families outside of Philadelphia, explores how families deal with the challenge of financing postsecondary education over time. Because of economic setbacks, these families adopt a variety of financial maneuvers to support their young adult children's postsecondary educational plans. In particular, families are driven to sacrifice familial savings accounts and retirement funds, take on significant student loan burdens, and downgrade children's college plans to cheaper, often less prestigious, options. These results highlight the financial vulnerability of families in the middle of the income distribution and the complicated relationship between family economics and postsecondary educational plans for children.