本篇文章利用民國八十年至八十六年的家庭支出調查資料，檢視台灣育有學齡兒童家庭的大專就讀率與教育支出。我們將重點放在家庭結構與所得的影響。研究發現，所得較高的家庭有較高的大專就讀率與教育支出，相對而言，單親家庭的兒童有較低的大專就讀率與教育支出。但在控制家庭的社經背景之後，單身母親家庭的小孩和雙親家庭的小孩在大專就讀率與教育支出兩方面，並沒有顯著的差異。然而，單身父親家庭的小孩仍然有顯著較低的大專就讀率與教育支出。 此篇研究結果建議，增加單親家庭的經濟安全對提升單親家庭兒童的教育成就有所幫助，但若只提升經濟資源，並無法根除單身父親家庭的小孩和雙親家庭的小孩在教育成就上的差異。

Using the 1991-97 Survey of Family Income and Expenditure, we analyze the determinants of college attendance rates and educational expenditure among families with children in Taiwan, paying particular attention to the effects of family structure and family income. Our findings indicate that higher family income is consistently associated with higher college attendance rates and spending on education. Children in single-parent families have lower college attendance rates than children in two-parent families. Furthermore, single-parent families spend less on education. Once family background is taken into account, single-mother families are not significantly different from two­parent families on the outcome variables. Single-father families, however, are estimated to have significantly lower college attendance rates and educational expenditure. These results suggest that improving the economic security of single parent families will increase their children's attainment, but will not eliminate the attainment gap between children in father-only and two parent families.