Dynamics of inequality in a differentiated post-secondary system: Intragenerational, intergenerational, and social psychological perspectives

Expansion and increased institutional differentiation in the U.S. post-secondary system over the last 30 years have captured the attention of education scholars intent on understanding the implications of such changes for inequality in student outcomes. In this dissertation, I aim to provide a more comprehensive account of the dynamics of post-secondary educational attainments building on three key areas of research in sociology: intragenerational educational attainments, the intergenerational transmission of education, and the social psychology of educational attainments.;In the first empirical chapter, I explore how students' socioeconomic characteristics and earlier academic achievements and expectations determine their progress through a differentiated post-secondary system through young adulthood. I find socioeconomic inequalities are much more severe upon entry and re-enrollment into post-secondary institutions. Cumulative effects of academic achievement and expectations begin early in middle school and often persist beyond post-secondary entry. For example, middle school and high school educational expectations directly determine student progress through the post-secondary system net of post-secondary achievement, especially in the case of non-traditional paths.;In the second empirical chapter, I explore institutional differentiation in the intergenerational transmission of education. Most research on the intergenerational transmission of education treats this relationship as a linear function of years of attained education. I argue that this process is multidimensional and characterized by the transmission of the quantity, qualities, and credentials of parents' education. I find large correspondence effects between the type of post-secondary institution a mother and her child enters, especially in the case of selective university entry. Children of mothers who complete a bachelor's degree are also much more likely to enter a selective university.;In the third empirical chapter, I extend work in social psychology, testing whether students update their educational expectations over time. This chapter builds on previous evidence of the importance of educational expectations for non-traditional pathways and on Bayesian learning theory. While it is not the case that students formulate a static latent construct of expected future education as early status attainment research suggests, they only revise expectations by .8 years at most for a letter grade change in GPA.