DOING THE RIGHT THING - RACE AND PARENTAL LOCUS OF RESPONSIBILITY FORFUNDING COLLEGE

Although racial variations in endorsement of social welfare have been studied, the more specific linkage to governmental involvement in high er education has not been established. Using data from High School and Beyond and the National Educational Longitudinal Study-1988, the auth ors compare the responses of minority versus White parents to question s regarding where parents locate the responsibility for funding colleg e (parent, student, or government), whether they favor specific govern mental funding strategies, and whether they have saved for their child ren's education, Although racial variations are modest, minority paren ts not only are more receptive to governmental involvement than are Wh ite parents, but are more likely to place the financial burden on them selves. These findings suggest that support for governmental aid for h igher education transcends pure self-interest and corresponds more clo sely with a minority-status argument. Once background characteristics are held constant, minority parents make at least as much if not more of an effort to save as do their White counterparts. Most important, t hese results debunk the myths that minority parents lack responsibilit y for their offspring, at least with respect to educational investment , and that a group's endorsement of collective welfare is incompatible with its assumption of individual responsibility.