"The Education Department released a report on Tuesday that offers new insights into the factors influencing whether parents expect their children to enroll at four-year colleges, and suggests that many young people who could succeed at such institutions are not being encouraged by their families or schools to apply," The Chronicle of Higher Education reports. "Nearly two out of three students' parents expect them to earn at least a bachelor's degree, the report says. But some segments of society are much more likely than others to believe their children will enroll in four-year institutions, with their expectations varying substantially based on their income and marital status and on their children's race, ethnicity, gender, and academic performance. In addition to reaffirming a large body of research showing a strong correlation between college-going expectations and parental income and education, the study also found that children from single-parent families appeared to be at a significant disadvantage."