Title: ASPIRING
TO THE BACCALAUREATE: ATTITUDES OF COMMUNITY COLLEGE
STUDENTS TOWARD AFFIRMATIVE
ACTION IN COLLEGE ADMISSIONS
Abstract
This study explored African American, Hispanic, and White community
college student attitudes toward affirmative action in college admissions.
The study examined the association between attitudes toward affirmative
action in college admissions and student background characteristics,
educational aspirations, self-interest, racial affect, and institutional
characteristics. It is proposed that community college students might
view affirmative action in college admissions differently than four-year
students due to their aspirations for the baccalaureate. The study
investigated whether attitudes toward affirmative action in college
admissions varied by race/ethnicity, gender, and baccalaureate aspirations
among students attending institutions that award associate's degrees.
Samples for the study were drawn from the 1996 Cooperative Institution
Research Program (CIRP) database of college students, obtained from
the Higher Education Research Institute at the University of California
at Los Angeles. The results revealed several associations existed
between support for abolishing affirmative action in college admissions
and student background characteristics, educational aspirations, self-interest,
and racial affect. Additionally, the logistic regression findings
illustrated that the odds of supporting affirmative action abolishing
in college admissions was greater among White, male, two-year students
with transfer intentions in addition to other independent variables
found to effect the likelihood of affirmative action support or disfavor.
Office of Community College Research and Leadership | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
51 Gerty Drive, 129 CRC | Champaign, IL 61820
phone: 217-244-9390 | fax: 217-244-0851 | e-mail:occrl@uiuc.edu
-9.gif)
