It is well-established that parents significantly influence their offspring's educational decisions (e.g., Stamm 2005, p. 281; Meulemann 1985), including the transition from upper-secondary school to tertiary sector (Lörz 2012). Among adolescents high school graduates [German: Abi-turand:innen, Maturierende], family influence is a key factor in the decision to pursue higher education or vocational pathways. In particular, students whose parents are academics are more frequently guided towards university admission and possess greater access to infor-mation (Dibiasi et al. 2022, pp. 7, 36, 43). This contribution focuses on the transition of “work-ing-class students,” defined as students from a social class combining “[socio-] economic sta-tus, values, beliefs, attitudes, and assumptions” to public universities in Austria (Longwell-Grice &Longwell-Grice 2008, p. 410). In a study employing the Constructive Grounded Theory Methodology by Kathy Charmaz (2009), 19 interviews with working-class students were ana-lyzed. The findings reveal a dichotomy in parental roles: as both sources of support and as a pull-out factor from university. Additionally, working-class parents held distinct expectations and attitudes towards labour and education. The contribution aims to explore how those findings can inform strategies to engage “hard to reach” parents and include them in their children's university experiences, as their support proves to be of importance for their chil-dren´s success (Fasching & Felbermayr 2024).

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