Socioeconomic Status and Private School Admissions Responses: Evidence from a Correspondence Audit in Florida

Abstract

In the United States, amidst the expansion and increasing universality of school choice policies in recent years, private educational institutions continue to enroll disproportionately large shares of students from high socioeconomic backgrounds, raising questions about the mechanisms contributing to this pattern. This study employs a correspondence audit design to test whether there exists a variation in private school email response behavior toward families of differing socioeconomic status (SES), utilizing parental occupation as a primary signal of SES. Informed by literature including Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of cultural capital and Annette Lareau’s concept of the “home advantage,” this study examines whether private schools in Florida respond differently to admissions inquiries based on manipulated parental occupation intended to signal either high or low SES. The findings do not provide strong evidence of differential treatment, with only a minimal variation observed in response patterns between the high and low-SES parent profiles. This study contributes to research concerning topics such as educational access and private schooling, extending the existing literature to include a specific focus on private schools within a school choice context regarding the state of Florida, while concurrently highlighting limitations of SES signaling via occupational cues alone.