Postsecondary attainment rates vary with students' socioeconomic status, but rigorous academic preparation and accomplishment can partially compensate for disadvantaged backgrounds.

Overall, about three-quarters of 1988 8th-graders participated in some postsecondary education by 2000: 47 percent earned some college credits but less than a bachelor's degree, and 30 percent completed a bachelor's or higher degree (see table 22-1). Postsecondary attainment varied with the student's background characteristics, but high achievement and challenging coursework partially mitigated a disadvantaged background.

The likelihood of completing a bachelor's or higher degree increased with students' socioeconomic status (SES): 7 percent of low-SES students, 24 percent of middle-SES students, and 60 percent of high-SES students completed such a degree by 2000. Among high-achieving students, attaining a college degree still increased along with SES. For example, among students who scored in the highest mathematics test quartile in 8th grade, the likelihood of earning a bachelor's or higher degree increased with SES, from 29 percent among those from low-SES families to 47 percent among those in the middle two quartiles, and to 74 percent among those with the highest SES (see table 22-2). A similar pattern applied to students who had studied algebra in 8th grade.

Although SES is related to attainment, strong academic preparation and achievement in school increase the likelihood that low-SES students, especially, will finish college. Among low-SES students, high achievers on 8th-grade mathematics tests were about 10 times more likely than low achievers to complete a degree by 2000. In contrast, among high-SES students, high achievers were only 2.4 times more likely than low achievers to complete a degree. Similarly, low-SES students who had studied calculus in high school were about 10 times more likely than those who had not studied calculus to have earned at least a bachelor's degree by 2000. In contrast, middle-SES students were only 3 times more likely to complete a degree—and high-SES students 1.7 times more likely—if they had studied calculus in high school. Achieving high test scores and studying calculus were associated with higher rates of college completion, and the association was stronger for low-SES students than for others in this cohort.