Understanding students’ college choices in Taiwan: an investigation of social-class inequalities in choices of institutional types and college pathways

After higher education expansion in the private sector and technical college system starting in 1985, students’ opportunities to attend four-year institutions in Taiwan are increasing. This study extends Cabrera and La Nasa’s model of student college choice to examine not only choices of institutional types but choices of college pathways after students attend college. This study uses longitudinal survey data from the Taiwan Education Panel Survey (TEPS) and its follow-ups, the Taiwan Education Panel Survey and Beyond (TEPS-B), which followed a cohort of students from their high school sophomore year to when they were 25–26 years old, and which spanned the time period from 2001–2010. Analysing these data, our findings show that students from a lower socioeconomic background are more likely to attend less selective institutional types, but sometimes at the same time, they pay a higher tuition price–indicating a regressive higher education system in Taiwan. In addition, both analytical ability and educational aspiration influence students in choosing initial institutional types. After entering college, in addition to family background and ability, parental involvement, high school resources, and the type of higher education institution first attended play important roles in shaping students’ college pathways.