Students from wealthier families perform better in school: Study

VMBO pupils with wealthier families go on to college more often that pupils whose families live on a lower income, according to figures Statistics Netherlands released on Thursday. 

In total 1 in 5 VMBO pupils eventually end up in an HBO education. And their parents' income seem to play a role in this - 40 percent of children from wealthier families move on to HBO, compared to 30 percent of kids whose parents have lower incomes. 

Herman van de Werfhorst, professor of sociology at the University of Amsterdam, does not find this surprising, he said to BNR. "I even expected a bigger difference. I also suspect that among students with low incomes there are more dropouts during HBO study than with high incomes", he said to the broadcaster. "If you come from a family with a higher income, your goal will be a higher income, which means you continue to study."