Socio-Economic Distribution and Higher Education Participation of Students in Kenya

Abstract

The disparity in higher education participation is a perverse problem in most developing
countries. The purpose of this study was to examine the socio-economic distribution of
students and higher education participation of students in Kenya from three dimensions:
students’ parents socio-economic backgrounds, parental occupational status, and parental
level of education. The survey sample compromising 581 respondents was selected from
three higher education institutions namely; a public university, a private university and a
polytechnic institution. Findings indicatethat despite the overall expansion towards mass
systems imbalances in participation based on student socio-economic background is a major
factor in Kenyan higher education institutions. The study reveals that higher education is
selective, not only in terms of type of secondary school students attended but across parental
traits such as father’s education and occupation. The economic capacity of parents is very
crucial in determining who can take advantage of the best available education provision and
how far a student goes up the education ladder. These findings further confirm the perverse
social selection and class bias in higher education institutions with students from lower
socioeconomic backgrounds less likely to participate in higher education as students from
middle and higher socioeconomic backgrounds. This makes higher education access in Kenya
to be highly inequitable. This disproportionate representationpresents a major challenge for
education policy. In order to achieve equity and enhance access to tertiary level education,
amongst all socio-economic groups, the government should seriously address disparities in
school outcomes, both at primary school level and between the various secondary school
types and barriers to access that are due to financial obstacles.