Does Your Family Income Affect Your Test Scores and GPA?

By Ryan J. Cariolano

SAT Scores and Family Income

• About 2/3rds of test takers voluntarily report their family incomes when they sit down to take the SAT.
• Generally speaking, the wealthier a student’s family is, the higher the SAT score.
• Lets take a look at some of the results...

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SAT Critical Reading Scores

• Incomes from $0-$20,000 on average would score a 434
• From $40,000-$60,000, the average score was 488
• $80,000-$100,000
• Average score: 517
• $120,000-$140,000
• 529
• $200,000 or more
• 563

SAT Math Scores

• $20,000
• 457
• $40,000-$60,000
• 497
• $80,000-$100,000
• 528
• $120,000-$140,000
• 542
• $200,000
• 579

SAT Writing Scores

• $20,000
• 430
• $40,000-$60,000
• 476
• $80,000-$100,000
• 505
• $120,000-$140,000
• 520
• $200,000
• 560

SAT Averages

• $0-$20,000
• 1,326
• $40,000-$60,000
• 1,461
• $80,000-$100,000
• 1,535
• $120,000-$140,000
• 1,581
• $200,000 or more
• 1,714

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The SAT Observations

• There is a strong positive correlation between income and test scores.
• On every test section, moving up an income category was associated with an average score boost of over 12 points.

Family Income and GPA

• Studies have been shown that college students whose parents had higher levels of education were more likely to have higher GPAs than their first generation-student peers.
• 62% of students with doctoral-degree-holding parents had at least a 3.0, compared with 53% of students whose parents only had a high school diploma.

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Family Income and GPA

• Studies also show that students at the highest income level were much more likely than the lowest income level to have GPAs of 3.0 or higher(56% versus 44%)
• All in all, the higher the family income, the higher the GPA.

Further but Different Studies

• Many experts have been studying these results and questioning whether colleges should have such a heavy reliance on SAT/ACT scores
• Former Princeton President William Bowen found that:
• High school grades are a far better incremental predictor of graduation rates than are standard SAT/ACT scores.
• Overly heavy reliance on SAT/ACT scores in admitting students can have adverse effects on the diversity of the student bodies enrolled by universities.
• The stong predictive power of high school GPA holds even when we know little or nothing about the quality of the high school attended.

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Conclusion

• In Conclusion, students with a high family income have a much higher chance of performing better than those with a low family income.
• Do you have a low GPA and poor test scores, with a family bringing in a low income? If so, it may not entirely be your fault.
• Are you a student with a strong GPA and high test scores with a family bringing in a high level of income? Well, then you may just be lucky.

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In Relation...

• Its not just family incomes that play a role on students average SAT scores
• There is also a correlation linked between one’s race and their SAT scores.

Works Cited

• “How Grade Point Average Correlates to Various Personal Characteristics.”Diversity and Democracy. 2010. Web. Nov 20 2013. <www.diversityweb.org/DiversityDemocracy/vol13no3/report.cfm>
• Valerie Strauss. “The bottom line on SAT scores in one chart.” The Answer Sheet. October 9. Web. Nov 20 2013. <www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/10/09/the-bottom-line-on-sat-scores-in-one-chart/>
• Catherine Rampell. “SAT Scores and Family Income.” Economix. Aug 27 2009. Web. Nov 20 2013. <economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/27/sat-scores-and-family-income/?_r=0>

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