Abstract:

The extent of higher education attainment has been widely acknowledged as an indicator of social mobility at the societal level. Financial issue is the most important constraint barring low income families from supporting their children’s education after high school. Parental attitude toward higher education is also a socio-cultural issue which determine the decision making process. Given that higher education is prospectively a familial means of social mobility, this research aims to examine the determinant of familial socio-economic attributes—family structure, parents’ income, education level, and occupation—towards the attitude and planning of children’s higher education in the low-income family of Bangkok.
The study is designed to apply data from 1,000 low-income households from Bangkok’s inner city, suburban Bangkok, and outer Bangkok, to obtain information regarding familial attributes, future plan for children’s education, and affordability to pay for higher education. A multi-state sampling was applied to randomly draw low-income household samples from these three areas in accordance with the demo-geographic and administrative settings of Bangkok, upon which the sampling frame is based. A total of thirty-three low-income communities are drawn to represent the whole Bangkok area and its vicinity. To ensure the distribution of sampling over the range of income, respondents are randomly sampled from 4 types of settlements: spontaneous settlement, affordable housing schemes, recent NHA relocation program, and the former NHA housing schemes. An in-depth interview with school administrators is conducted to derive the institutional situations which would determine the prospect of choosing areas of interest and passing the entrance examination.
Statistical analysis verify the research model that education level of household head is the prime factor determining his / her occupation and income, which further decide the future prospect of children occupation and judgment to attend higher education. A policy implication following the research finding is recommended to the ministry of education on how to educate low-income household on the vitality of higher education and the administration of government loan system for higher education.

Keywords:

social mobility, higher education, affordability, decision making.