Voter participation, socioeconomic status, and institutional contexts in higher education

Using data from the National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement, this study examined the relationship between student and institutional characteristics and college student voting in the 2012 U.S. general election, and how this relationship varied by socioeconomic status (SES). After controlling for several student-and institution-level characteristics, we found that student major and in-or out-of-state enrollment status as well as institutional structural diversity and institutional Carnegie Classification predict voting, but not necessarily for both low-and high-SES students. These findings have implications for civic education and higher education’s fulfillment of its civic mission.