Changes in family investment in children’s out-of-school education in China, 2010–2018

Abstract

Despite the growing perception of and concern about the rising cost burden of out-of-school education on families in China, few studies to date have comprehensively examined how family investment in out-of-school education has changed over time. Capitalizing on longitudinal data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) for 2010–2018, this study analyzes the trend in family investment in children’s out-of-school education (measured by children’s rates of participation and families’ absolute and relative monetary expenditure) during that period. We also examine how this trend differs by family socioeconomic status (SES) and by children’s level of schooling (preschool, primary school, junior high school). Our results show a large and growing number of families invest in out-of-school education in their children’s preschool years, with a significant SES gradient. Furthermore, family investment in out-of-school education has increased significantly between 2010 and 2018, with SES disparities in investment persisting and even widening during the same period. These findings carry important implications for understanding educational inequality in contemporary China as well as for policy making to promote educational equality.

Notes

1 Due to its inconsistent measurements of out-of-school education investment, the 2016 wave of CFPS is not included in this study.

2 Both the absolute and the relative expenditure in the main text are calculated for all children under the age of 16, including those who ever participated out-of-school education and those who didn’t participated any out-of-school education. For those who ever participated out-of-school education, the absolute expenditure is 1080 yuan/year in 2010, 1802 yuan/year in 2012, 2122 yuan/year in 2014, and 3639 yuan/year in 2018, while the relative expenditure is 2.8% in 2010, 3.6% in 2012, 3.9% in 2014, 4.8% in 2018.

3 Regression results for the whole sample are shown in Appendix Table A1.

4 The regression results are shown in Appendix Table A3.

5 The regression results are shown in Appendix Table A4.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Social Science Fund of China Grant 19CSH022, Peking University.

Notes on contributors

Airan Liu

Airan Liu is an assoicate professor at Center for Social Research, Peking University. Her main areas of interest are child development, inequality in early life, Asian Americans, and China.

Wangyang Li

Wangyang Li is an assoicate professor at the School of Sociology, Beijing Normal University. Her research interests are social stratification and mobility, child and youth development, family, and gender.

Yu Xie

Yu Xie is Bert G. Kerstetter ‘66 University Professor of Sociology and Director of Paul and Marcia Wythes Center on Contemporary China, Princeton University. He is also a Visiting Chair Professor of the Center for Social Research, Peking University. His main areas of interest are social stratification, demography, statistical methods, Chinese studies, and sociology of science.