First-Generation College Students in an Expanded and Diversified Higher Education System: The Case of Israel

The expansion and diversification of higher education in many countries and the increasing enrollment rates of new populations have sparked growing interest in first-generation college students. The research on students whose parents have at most secondary education mainly concentrates on the vertical aspect of stratification in postsecondary education: enrollment and attrition rates and chances of college graduation. Numerous American studies show that children of nonacademic parents have lower rates of enrollment in higher education, higher attrition rates, and lower chances of college graduation than children of academic parents (e.g., Billson and Terry, 1982; Chen and Carrol, 2005; Engle, 2007; Nunez and Cuccaro-Alamin, 1998; Ishitani, 2003, 2006; Pascarella et al., 2004; Warburton, Bugarin, and Nunez, 2001).