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London, 1992). Almost a third of the parents of the Rowan engineering students had high
school educations or less, making these students “first generation” college students.
Another 21% had parents who did not complete an undergraduate degree. About half of
the parents had undergraduate or graduate college degrees. As Table ID-8 shows, Rowan
engineering students’ parents are somewhat more highly educated than the average
postsecondary student (surveyed in the 2000 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study).
In national data (NPSAS:2000), parents of male postsecondary students are somewhat
more educated than parents of female students. Among the Rowan engineering students,
however, fathers of female and male students had similar levels of education, and the
mothers of female students were more likely to have completed a college degree than
were the mothers of male students (Table ID-8). Thus, the Rowan female student are not
disadvantaged in terms of their parents as role models for education or in terms of the
socio-economic resources parents’ education indicates. It seems that more educated
mothers might be more likely to encourage their daughters to attend engineering schools.
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