The study investigates if there are differences between perceived access to higher education and selected socioeconomic variables. The operational hypothesis tests whether there are differences between access to higher education as measured by three dependent variables: student's highest education aspirations; ability to complete university; and availability of student financial aid and selected socioeconomic variables. The socioeconomic variables are: father's occupation; amount of tuition fees charged; parents as a primary source of funding education; student's academic achievement; sex of participants; type of university attended; and use of loans to finance education.
The study had four hundred university students and one hundred parents. Participants were sampled from Makerere and Nkumba Universities using lists of students obtained from the registrar's offices. The first student was randomly selected and every subsequent fifth student on the list systematically selected. The parents/guardians were conveniently sampled. The researcher personally distributed questionnaires to participants in order to avoid delays or loss in the postal system. The researcher interviewed illiterate parents personally.
The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used for data entry and analysis. Analysis of Variance tests were conducted to detect differences between the dependent and independent variables.
The university attended and use of loans to finance education, are significant with all the socioeconomic variables used in the study when measuring access.
Availability of student financial aid as the dependent variable shows no significant result with university attended and socioeconomic variables.
With availability of student financial aid as the dependent variable, father's occupation, parents as a source of financial support, and sex of the participants are significant when education is financed using loans.
Conclusively, the socioeconomic variables used in the study are predictors of access to higher education in relation to the type of university attended and use of loans to finance education.
Availability of student financial aid is not a good predictor of access in relation to the type of university attended. However, it is a good predictor of access with use of loans only in relation to father's occupation, parents as a source of financial support, and sex of the participants.
