Parent and High School Students’ Expectations of Educational Attainment

This report is based on data from the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS:09), a nationally representative, longitudinal study of more than 23,000 ninth-graders in 2009. Follow-up surveys were administered to the cohort in 2012 and 2016. The study included questions for both students and their parents about highest level of expected educational attainment. Notable findings from this report include: Nearly a third of parents over time (30 percent in 2009 and 31 percent in 2012) expected their child’s highest level of education to be a bachelor’s degree. The percentage of students who expected their highest level of education to be a bachelor’s degree increased throughout high school (from 18 percent in 2009 to 28 percent in 2012).