Migration and the Pursuit of Education in Southern Mexico

Educational attainment in rural Mexico is increasingly structured by migration opportunities. The rise in adult US migration increases potential funding for adolescents to stay in school but may also decrease incentives for them to do so. Domestic migration flows can fund schooling locally, and may also support students’ own movement for education when opportunities in rural communities are limited. We study these processes using survey and focus group data from rural villages in southern Mexico undergoing rapid changes in migration and education opportunities. We find evidence that education trajectories are intimately linked with adolescents’ exposure to migration in their communities, and that gender plays an important role in structuring these effects. We also document the increasing importance of adolescent movement to peri-urban and urban centers to complete secondary education, a pathway of schooling acquisition that is itself influenced by adult migration patterns in their communities.