ABSTRACT
College choice in the United States is stratifi ed by family income. Students with the lowest family incomes are relatively concentrated in private forprofi t institutions and public two-year colleges and underrepresented at public and private universities (Baum & Ma, 2007). In 2003-04, students from families with incomes below $20,000 represented 26 percent of dependent students attending private for-profi t institutions and 16 percent at public two-year institutions, but only 10 percent of dependent students attending public universities and 10 percent at private universities (Baum & Ma, 2007).
