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We study students’ motives for educational attainment in a unique survey of 885 secondary school students in the UK. As expected, students who perceive the monetary returns to education to be higher are more likely to intend to continue in full-time education. However, the main driver is the perceived consumption value, which alone explains around half of the variation of the intention to pursue higher education. Moreover, the perceived consumption value can account for a substantial part of both the socio-economic gap and the gender gap in intentions to continue in full-time education.
Authors
Research Fellow Financial Conduct Authority
Jonathan is a Research Fellow at the IFS and a Technical Specialist in the Economics Department at the Financial Conduct Authority.
Chris Belfield
Research Associate University of Bonn
Teodora is a Research Associate and a Professor of Applied Microeconomics at the Department of Economics at the University of Bonn.
Christopher Rauh
Working Paper details
- DOI
- 10.1920/wp.ifs.2016.1613
- Publisher
- IFS
Suggested citation
Belfield, C et al. (2016). Money or fun? Why students want to pursue further education. London: IFS. Available at: https://ifs.org.uk/publications/money-or-fun-why-students-want-pursue-further-education (accessed: 3 May 2024).
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