First-generation college graduates are more likely to come from families that have higher incomes and more resources than families in which neither parents nor children graduate from college, a new study shows.

The findings highlight the challenges facing young people who want to attend college, as well as how difficult it is for individuals to move up the socioeconomic ladder.

“A college degree is often a ticket to the middle class, but not everyone has the same chance to obtain one,” says Anna Manzoni, an associate professor of sociology at North Carolina State University and first author of the paper in The Sociological Quarterly.

“We know that parents’ education matters, as the children of college-educated parents graduate from college at higher rates than the children of parents without a bachelor’s degree. What differentiates the students who become first-generation college graduates from those who don’t?

“This study shows that it is mostly students whose parents have high levels of resources for their educational background who graduate from college—hardly a ringing endorsement of an open system or a meritocracy.”

Read the full article about first-gen college success by Matt Shipman at Futurity.