Higher education expansion and low-income students in Taiwan

In this paper, we report on a study of 1510 undergraduates from five national universities in Taiwan, and we show that compared to “non-prestigious” universities, a larger proportion of students at prestigious universities come from middle and high socioeconomic classes and a smaller proportion experience financial insecurity These results are timely in the wake of Taiwan's expansion in the number of universities and of university students. At non-prestigious universities, a higher percentage of students experience economic constraints, spend several hours per week engaged in paid employment during their university studies, and have parents who did not go to college. These different characteristics of the student bodies at elite and non-elite institutions of higher education may create quite different university contexts, which may in turn affect students’ college experiences, professional choices, and opportunities in the future.