Resumen
The study assessed the relationship between socio-economic status and academic attainment in the state and the federal polytechnics in Nigeria. A survey of 895 Higher National Diploma Students was conducted by means of self-administered questionnaire across two polytechnics in Lagos state, Nigeria. Descriptive statistics, t-test, Pearson product moment correlation and F - test were employed to analyze the data generated from the survey. The results of the analyses indicate that the students in the state polytechnics occupied higher socio ?economic status than those in the federal polytechnics. However, the correlation matrix depicting the relationship between the socio - economic status and the academic attainment showed an insignificant relationship. Thus, the paper concludes that exogenous factors other than the socio ? economic status, affect the academic attainment at higher education levels. The paper suggests that there is a need for creating opportunities for access to higher education, as well as for effective monitoring and re-engineering of the existing institutions.