Post-COVID Observations of the Implications of Social Class Differences in the Management Classroom

Abstract

Ample research addresses the implications of social class differences and their impact on college  experience, yet management education rarely engages with this topic. This paper revisits quantitative  survey results from management students at two Northeastern four-year institutions collected in 2018 and  lays the groundwork for a new study. New data were collected in two waves — AY 24/25 and Fall 2025 — and analyzed to identify differences between the two institutions and examine the COVID pandemic's  impact on students' college experience. The researchers anticipated divergent results regarding college  experience despite demographic similarities between the populations. This paper includes data and a  summarized discussion from the previous study, highlighting differences between the two groups in learning  preferences and living-arrangement distractions. A key finding was that students viewed their education as  either relational or transactional depending on their institution. Pedagogical implications from the original  study are discussed, along with limited literature on COVID's impact on college students and the  methodology for the new study.