The Varsity

You may think that receiving a higher education may open many doors, but the door to wedding bells is far more likely to be closed for disadvantaged students. Sociologist Kelly Musick from Cornell University found that factors other than income, namely social status, can determine whether marriage is in the cards. Disadvantaged students get caught in what researchers refer to as “marriage market mismatch” — they no longer want to marry down to people with lower educations, and they are not able to marry up to a partner from a more privileged financial background. The chance of a disadvantaged male marrying decreases by 38 per cent while it decreases by 22 per cent for females. In contrast, males from wealthier families that attend a post-secondary institution increase their chance of marrying by 31 per cent while it increases by 8 per cent for females.