Asian Journal of Education and Social Studies

Barriers to higher education remain a significant issue, with college students encountering unique obstacles rooted in the institutional environment, and course distribution. The study investigates the prevalence of educational barriers faced by students in different types of colleges in West Bengal, India. It also examines whether there is a significant interaction effect between institutional type and factors such as gender, caste, and academic stream on the educational barriers experienced by students. A cross-sectional survey was conducted on 467 randomly selected college students from fifteen colleges (three government, three private, and nine government-aided), purposively chosen from different districts in West Bengal, India. Mc Whirter’s ‘Perception of Educational Barriers Scale - Revised’ (likelihood sub-scale) was used as a research instrument. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) reveals five dimensions: Study-Related Barriers, Gender and Ethnicity Discrimination, Social Interaction, Financial Issues, and Family Issues, which explain 59.03% of the total variance. Data were analyzed using mean, frequency, SD, levene’s test, two-way ANOVA through SPSS version 21. The results reveal that most students across all institutional types face low levels of barriers. While institutional type significantly affects academic, discriminatory, social, and financial challenges, its interaction with gender is not statistically significant on academic, discriminatory, social, and financial challenges. However, academic discipline influences barriers across institution types, and the interaction between institutional type and caste notably impacts most barriers, except social engagement and financial constraints. These findings indicate how institutional culture, and program interplay with student diversity to shape the challenges students face in their educational journey.