An Education

Journal of College Orientation, Transition, and Retention, 2019

Journal of Social Science Studies, 2022

College-going culture represents the development of college aspiration within individuals, including the necessary guidance and support to prepare students for college. First-generation students, those whose parents have no bachelor’s degree, are of particular research interest because they have lower college-going rates than their peers whose parents have degrees. This reality contributes to disparate educational outcomes with both individual and societal impacts. This mixed-methods case study provides insight into the college-going experiences of first-generation college students by answering the research question, “How did first-generation students attending an Hispanic-serving institution (HSI) experience the phenomenon of college-going culture in their high schools and communities?” Data analysis resulted in six assertions with implications for practitioners and future researchers, including the importance of relationships with high school staff and the opportunity to take dual...

Research in Higher Education, 1996

Teachers College Record: The Voice of Scholarship in Education

Background/Context Children of immigrants are the fastest growing segment of the U.S. child population, and these children are increasingly entering the U.S. educational pipeline and seeking access to college. Gaining access to college in the United States requires college knowledge. Yet, obtaining college knowledge can be difficult for immigrant families, who may lack familiarity with the U.S. education system. Although one third of all immigrants possess a college degree, many earned their degree abroad or in the United States as international students and/or adult learners. Therefore, the children of college-educated immigrants may be the first in their family to seek access to college via the U.S. K–12 system. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study This study explores how African immigrant multigenerational families engage in college preparation. All families had at least one parent who had attained a college degree. In each family, the college-educated parent(s) eit...

First-generation college students (FGS)—postsecondary students whose parents did not complete college degrees—are a theoretically critical group for understanding social inequality in higher education and processes of social mobility. They are successful in navigating into higher education institutions in spite of a lack of parental experience, and may derive particular benefits from their social origins in terms of motivation and novel sources of support. However, college experiences can prove challenging for FGS due to more limited social and cultural capital. Sociologists have arrived relatively late to the study of this group. I argue that sociological perspectives can add to our understanding of FGS by investigating the ways that first-generation status intersects with other dimensions of identity and experience (race/ethnicity, gender, social class, sexuality, immigration status, etc.). Sociological insight can also further develop understandings of how institutional variation as well as institutional neglect and abuse shape FGS experiences and outcomes.

In research and in practice, two similar but significantly different definitions arise for the term First Generation College Student (FGCS). The difference is whether it refers to students neither of whose parents attended vs. graduated from a four-year college. Using the completion standard, 25-50% of all college students are First Generation; in community colleges, that numbers is estimated to be 75%. These percentages are significant and would seem encouraging when thinking that so many students in college are taking a different educational path than their parents did (or were able to), however, enrollment does not equate to completion. Unfortunately, FGCSs do not graduate at the same rates as student‘s who have at least one parent who completed a college education. The discrepancy exists even when accounting for factors such as academic preparation, achievement scores, and high school grades. Being First Generation does not only impact the student who may have little guidance when making the decision to pursue a college education; it impacts the families who may wish to help but do not have the knowledge or experience to offer guidance and may themselves encounter anxiety as their student ventures into unfamiliar territory. Narrowing the college experience knowledge gap between FGCSs and Continuing Generation College Students can help universities narrow the achievement gap between the two groups. The purpose of this descriptive project is three-fold, (1) To identify factors that may impede FGCSs and underrepresented students from successfully transitioning to and completing college, (2) to determine and describe the structure of a handbook that informs current/potential Texas State students and their families about the college experience and identifies available resources to overcome college challenges, and (3) to develop a handbook that Texas State can use as a recruitment tool and that students and parents can use as a guide through the student‘s selection of and transition to college.

2020

The author argues that first-generation college students (FGS) have compounded challenges when they pursue graduate education. As a first-generation college student, he was not able to gather advice from family or his job supervisor, who had no experience with graduate school. Drawing from his experience and the existing FGS-related research, the author details practical advice for making a successful transition from college to graduate school. He concludes with a list of essential questions that prospective graduate students should ask themselves and their mentors when considering graduate study.

Inquiry: Critical Thinking Across the Disciplines, 2020

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to investigate first-generation students’ perceptions of how their lived experiences have impacted their academic and nonacademic success. We utilized focus groups consisting of first-generation students who attended a rural community college and a large, public, metropolitan, research university, and compared their lived experiences. Our findings confirmed some past research that found that a lack of social capital, academic preparation, financial resources, and family support challenge this population of students in their transition to college. However, some of our results contradict past findings which have concluded that part-time enrollment increases the risk of first-generation student attrition. Most of our findings were consistent between the two groups of participants. Findings related to awareness of the availability of support services differed between the two samples. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND There is a significant gap in...

Know That You Are Worthy: Experiences from First-Generation College Graduates, Adam J. Rodríguez, editor. New York: Rowman and Littlefield. 2023. 93-97., 2023

"In My Own Way." In Know That You Are Worthy: Experiences from First-Generation College Graduates. Adam J. Rodríguez, editor. New York: Rowman and Littlefield. 2023. 93-97.