'Bettering Yourself'? Discourses of risk, cost and benefit in ethnically diverse, young working-class non-participants' constructions of higher education

“…this has facilitated greater opportunities for access to HE for those not previously considered eligible to go to university, some have suggested that increased access has diluted HE and paved the way for a group of students unaware of and unprepared for student life (Archer and Hutchings 2000).”

“…is in line with their earlier observations that white, middle-class, male students and researchers dominate the contexts of higher education (Archer & Hutchings, 2000) and that despite their science aspirations, young black people do not find studying science thinkable for themselves…”

“It was widely argued that these rising costs in the form of accumulated debt would deter students – and disproportionately those from disadvantaged backgrounds (Archer and Hutchings 2000; Callender and Jackson 2005; Jones and Thomas 2005; Leathwood and O’Connell 2003).”

“…HE has occupied a particularly luminous space within this postfeminist landscape, as young women – particularly working-class women and women of colour – have been encouraged to aspire towards and engage in HE as a path to ‘self-betterment’ (Archer and Hutchings, 2000) and a professional career.”

“In this they echo earlier work by Archer and Hutchings (2000) and Connor and Dewson © International Journal for Educational Integrity Vol. 9 No. 2 December, 13 .”

“…upon dispositions and attitudes, which de-contextualises continued embedded institutional inequalities / this is likely to be a heightened tension in terms of proposed tuition fee increases, where students are to invest in their own futures (Archer and Hutchings 2000; Taylor 2008; Evans 2010).”

“Unfamiliarity may manifest itself in relation to a lack of knowledge (Gartland 2006), an inability to assess the risk involved in pursuing a programme of higher education (Archer and Hutchings 2000) or so on.”

“It also seems that the working class participants taking part in my research have decoded the ‘rhetoric of equality’ (Pugsley, 1998 cited by Archer & Hutchings, 2000: 557) and broken the cycle of ‘settling for what you have got’ (Nash, 1990: 439).”

“Increased participation means greater diversity in student abilities, experiences, preconceptions and misconceptions, learning expectations, and career intentions (Archer and Hutchings 2000; Leathwood and O’Connell 2003; Jones and Thomas 2005).”

“Several students from socially and economically poor backgrounds have mentioned concerns about their linguistic skills, such as their difficulty in expressing ideas properly and their reluctance to speak in local accents (Granfield, 1991 (Archer & Hutchings, 2000), as cited in Bose, 2023).”

“…students in higher education should be interpreted not only as the result of specific financial constraints faced by working-class families, but also of specific ‘identity costs’ of fitting within an academic field which under-values working-class identities and culture (Archer & Hutchings, 2000).”

“As we have shown, these narratives of ambition underscore how they are respectable individuals (Archer and Hutchings 2000; Skeggs 1997).”

“…students also predominantly assumes a supportive family unit, even if it is a single parent structure, throughout the college experience (e.g., Archer & Hutchings, 2000; Arellano & Padilla, 1996; Dennis, Phinney, & Chuateco, 2005; Inkelas & McCarron, 2006; Richardson & Skinner, 1992;…”

“Academic literature, especially on the sociology of higher education, has discussed the importance of conceptions of ‘risk’ for working-class students (Archer & Hutchings, 2000; Reay, 2001).”

“Higher education was often seen as a way to improve one’s life chances (Archer and Hutchings 2000 ) for some minority ethnic groups.”

“Overall, the choice to attend university generally, and medicine particularly, may be seen as presenting more risk for a student from a non-traditional background, both culturally and financially (Archer & Hutchings, 2000; Archer & Leathwood, 2003).”

“…have often done so to target those who are ‘unlikely to progress’ to HE; research carried out with vocational students has primarily aimed to establish the reasons behind non-participation in HE (Archer and Hutchings 2000; Aynsley and Crossouard 2010; Heath, Fuller, and Paton 2008; Morrison 2008).”

“…role in shaping decisions about where to go to university – for example, students from lower socioeconomic groups may perceive the most selective universities as innately ‘middle-class’ environments where they will not ‘fit in’ (Archer & Hutchings, 2000; Ball et al., 2002; Reay et al., 2001).”

“In addition, this study used literature on college student debt (Archer & Hutchings, 2000; Dowd, 2008; Hossler et al., 2009; Nora et al., 2005; Price, 2004).”

“These are the students for whom the biggest barriers to college attendance may be related to finances and the belief that college might not be for “people like them” (Archer & Hutchings, 2000; Bufton, 2003; Reay et al., 2001).”

“…a bachelor’s degree in a neoliberal context is a rather emotional process, because the pursuit becomes more costly (because of tuition hikes and increasing reliance on loans) and because this pursuit does not necessarily lead to a well-paid job (cf. Archer & Hutchings, 2000; Christie, 2009).”

“This can all explain why some students, who do not correspond to traditional academic expectations, do not identify with the university as an institution and feel that it is not for ‘people like them’ (Archer and Hutchings 2000) or that it ‘is not them’: University, it’s just not me.”

“In research on widening participation, working-class students’ aspirations are often expressed as being stuck or having limited freedom to direct their lives towards valued outcomes, such as decent employment, safety, respect and dignity (see also Archer & Hutchings, 2000).”

“Other researchers have examined how social class influences different groups’ ideas about whether to pursue tertiary education and which institution to attend (see, in particular, Archer & Hutchings, 2000; Reay et al., 2001; Archer & Yamashita, 2003; Reay, 2006).”

“Little consideration, it has been reasoned, is given to their ‘ability to participate’ (Archer and Hutchings, 2000, p. 569).”

“, [4–9]).”

“Archer and Hutchings’ (2000) research suggests that social distinctions can have implications for students’ experiences of belonging or non-belonging in their academic settings and related to this their study progress.”

“19,20 HE participation has been shown to stratify across a variety of segments, including ethnicity, 21,22 gender and social class, 23,24 neighbourhood type, 25,26 parental education 27 and schooling.”

“Indeed, as working-class students considered the failure to complete HE and repay student debt to be a key risk (Archer and Hutchings 2000), high school students in this study who worried about the possibility of dropping out seemed to perceive a greater risk associated with accumulating student…”

“Such concerns are materially legitimate; simply being at university entails considerable costs (Archer and Hutchings 2000; Tett and Hamilton 2019).”

“…the ‘risk discourse,’ through which nonparticipating working-class and ethnic minority respondents have rationalised their choices in earlier studies (Archer and Hutchings 2000, for example), which have drawn on Beck’s (1992) proposition that ‘risk’ is a central characteristic of modern life,…”

“It is worth emphasising that researchers such as Brown and Hesketh ( 2004 ), Morley ( 2007 ), and Morley and Aynsley ( 2007 ) claim to have isolated an independent effect gained from graduating from an elite university in the United Kingdom, while others, also based on the United Kingdom (Archer and Hutchings 2000 ; B…”

“…tended to focus on university applicants (Pugsley 1998; Ball, Maguire, and Macrae 2000; Brooks 2003; Forsyth and Furlong 2003; Reay 2003; Reay, David, and Ball 2005) rather than on those who have not participated in higher education, although work by Archer and Hutchings (2000) is one exception.”

“Archer and Hutchings’ discussion-group research, based on young Londoners not participating in higher education, describes the view of a degree affording a ‘chance not to be stuck’ (Archer and Hutchings 2000, p. 564).”

“…and cultural capital they bring to the classroom, whilst also laying bare the habitus of the university is critical to their sense of belonging (see Archer & Hutchings, 2000; Devlin, 2011; Gale & Mills, 2013; Haggis, 2006; Richardson & Radloff, 2014; Roberts, 2011; Tangalakis, Hughes, Brown, &…”

“Even if social class is demonstrably crucial within this nexus (Archer and Hutchings 2000; Brooks 2003; Lareau and Weininger 2008; McDonough 1997; Pugsley 1998), it works along multiple dimensions and through multiple channels, as Reay and her collaborators have shown for the UK.”

“Ball, MacRae, and Maguire (1999) outlined the daunting market of post-16 educational provision and explored how young people attempt to navigate it, while Archer and Hutchings (2000) focused at the underlying reasons for self-exclusion in such an environment.”

“…as we have shown in this research, a sense of not belonging commonly found amongst ‘ non-traditional ’ students in all six countries rests on the Anglocentric construction of community as a speci fi c HEI and hence the bounded sense of belonging (Archer & Hutchings, 2000; Reay et al., 2010).”

“…narratives framed diversity efforts as reflecting equal rights, advancing personal mobility, and reducing overall disparities (Alon and Tienda, 2005; Bowen and Bok, 1998) while contributing to institutional income and to regional and national development and growth (Archer and Hutchings, 2000).”

“Although students can be present in institutions that have many “ non-traditional ” students, they can “ feel little sense of entitlement or belonging there ” (Archer & Hutchings, 2000; Archer, Hutchings, & Ross, 2003, cited in Archer, 2007, pp.646 – 647).”

“Unsurprisingly, these responses reveal the weight of financial risks for students from families with low levels of economic capital (Archer and Hutchings 2000; Perna and Titus 2005).”

“Following the earlier work of Archer and Hutchings ( 2000 ), Crozier, Reay, Clayton, Colliander, and Grinstead ( 2008 , p.”

“…here on the financial costs of higher education; however, there are also social and emotional costs, including fears of attenuated family ties, not fitting in and succeeding in college, not getting a job, and unwelcome changes in social identity (Archer & Hutchings, 2000; Lawler & Payne, 2017).”

“If any distortions do play out in this way, they would work against efforts to promote widening participation (Archer & Hutchings, 2000; Chowdry et al., 2013; Greenbank, 2006; Harrison, 2011; Younger et al., 2019) and more fundamentally higher education as a championed route to increased social…”

“Due to these welfare state policies, the discourse that sees studying as an economic risk was absent from our interview data (cf. Archer and Hutchings 2000).”

“Social and Cultural Capital As several researchers noted, college aspirations are socially constructed (Archer & Hutchings, 2000; McDonough & Calderone, 2006).”

“Family and social networks are an important information source for the young people, and also played an important role in forming their decision to enter higher education (Archer and Hutchings 2000).”

“The main paradox observed is that although a clear sense of social distance is observed versus the dominant culture in universities, at the same time, it is identified how these students manifest an enormously positive discourse about the “achievement” and the “experience” of going to the University (Archer and Hutchi…”

“She decides against applying to a particular elite university after visiting it for a summer school and experiencing a culture where she felt positioned as an ‘outsider’ in HE (Archer and Hutchings 2000).”

“Higher education is expensive; therefore, finance is often a ‘key concern and constraint’ among students of lower-class origin (Ball et al. 2002) who often position themselves outside of the Ivory Tower, seeing that elite universities are ‘not for the likes of them’ (Archer and Hutchings 2000).”

“This is an important finding that supplements the dominant narrative of all young people, and women in particular, as intensely invested in, or seeing the value of further or higher education (Archer and Hutchings, 2000).”

“The choices of institutions of higher education are thus likely to confirm or threaten social identities (Archer and Hutchings 2000 ; Reay, David, and Ball 2005 ).”

“Individuals from lower social backgrounds are often uncertain whether they will succeed in higher education and will gain an advantage from the certificate obtained (i.e. well-paid job) (Archer & Hutchings, 2000; Brooks, 2003b).”

“For example, students may believe that they do not belong in a field of education, or that the problems they must overcome make it too risky to participate [48].”

“…of education, extensive and highly important research has attempted to understand the stubbornly uneven rates of university participation between young people from working-class and middle-class backgrounds (Archer and Hutchings 2000; Reay et al. 2001; Ball et al. 2002; Bathmaker et al. 2013).”