First-generation College Students Research Articles

Don’t Stop the Music: An Exploration of First-Generation College Students’ Use of Music During Pre-Pandemic and Pandemic Times

First-generation college student enrollment has increased significantly in recent years and a sizeable canon exists to help understand their journey to and through higher education, as well as subsequent persistence, retention and graduation rates. This research is the first to investigate how and why first-generation college students use music. Two studies compare usage patterns in pre- and pandemic settings. Study One (N=583) found that students listen to roughly four hours per day and that nearly 75% of students listen to music while studying. Moreover, first-generation students indicated that they listen to music more frequently and for more inward-focused coping reasons. Study Two (N=441) was an Internet survey (conducted during the pandemic) that supported and augmented many of Study One’s findings. While music plays an important role for all students, it is critically important to first-generation students. Key findings illuminate what genres students listen to and eleven reasons why students listen to music, which are highlighted by identifying and expressing emotions, relieving stress, relieving stress, and increasing creativity.

Visualizing Precarity and Security: Mona Hatoum’s Drowning Sorrows and Guadalupe Maravilla’s Walk on Water

Precarity is an overwhelming and persistent condition of unpredictability, instability, and insecurity, especially as related to employment, housing, health care, and migration status. While spread unevenly, it is a hallmark of our contemporary world. At UC Santa Cruz, a federally designated Hispanic-Serving Institution where more than one-third of the undergraduates are first-generation college students and more than half receive need-based financial aid, many of my students are of the precariat, the people for whom precarity is a driving force. Like intersectionality and heteronormativity, precarity allows us to name, to better understand, and then to change the conditions that shape our world. And like intersectionality and heteronormativity, it is an abstruse concept. To help my students identify and comprehend precarity, I have found that it is useful to visualize it. To do so, I turn to art, specifically to Mona Hatoum’s Drowning Sorrows (20012) and Guadalupe Maravilla’s Walk on Water (2018).

A Mediation Analysis of Spirituality: Wellbeing and Academic Performance in first-Generation and Low-income College Students

Mental health and attainment gaps comprise crises on university campuses, especially for first-generation and low-income students. Despite the heritage of spirituality and religious foundations of America’s colleges, current norms have rendered candid discussions of spirituality to be mostly nonexistent. Despite literature linking spirituality with psychological wellbeing, known is little as to what relationship spirituality has with psychological wellbeing and academic performance, particularly among first-generation and low-income students. This study uses a cross-sectional survey design and occurred a public, regional, Midwestern institution. Quantitative analysis found a relationship between psychological wellbeing and academic performance in specific circumstances, and an indirect effect between spirituality and academic performance in the presence of psychological wellbeing. These data presents implications for practitioners.

Is It What You Know or Who You Know?: An Information Typology of How First-Generation College Students Access Campus Resources

While there has been increased investigation of the enrollment patterns and access to college for first-generation college students (FGCS), less is understood about how FGCS learn and utilize vital information to persist with limited familial knowledge about college success. In this paper we utilize focus group data of 62 diverse FGCS to create a typology of how students utilize information to succeed in college. Using theory from sociology and information sciences we categorize the sources FGCS learn from and how information is utilized. Our findings indicate that FGCS develop complex ways of finding information even with minimal support and those information sources that are most helpful are often connected to pre-existing and informal relationships. We conclude by offering implications for future research on FGCS student success and opportunities for administrators to incorporate information-finding and relationship-building concepts into student success practice.

Online Gerontology Courses: Issues of Equity

The COVID-19 Pandemic changed higher education in several significant ways. The most significant impact was on methods of course delivery. In March 2020, all educational institutions changed their methods of instruction to fully online instruction. It happened almost overnight and left the students as well as the instructors unprepared for the unanticipated metamorphosis . The sudden and unanticipated change in the method of instruction and delivery of course contents also highlighted issues of equity. There appeared to be high levels of inequity in the use of technology across school and college campuses. A survey of students conducted by the author at the University of Louisiana at Monroe revealed different types of inequity such as, lack of finances to buy equipment, lack of training in the use of technology, and lack of personal space to study from home. A significant percentage of student population at ULM consists of first-generation college students. These students were impacted the most by the new methods of course delivery. Additionally, the author looked up similar surveys at other educational institutions and conducted a meta-analysis of published studies. This paper presents these findings.

“Listen to the Feedback of Students”: First-Generation College Students Voice Inequalities in Schooling Brought on by the COVID-19 Pandemic

In March 2020, the higher-education community faced one of its largest disruptions to date with the COVID-19 pandemic forcing campuses to close their doors to thousands of students. The university-wide closures prompted a collaboration between researchers and college administrators to assess the impact of COVID-19 on First-Generation College Students (FGCS). The team surveyed 659 FGCS across five U.S. universities to assess the ways in which the pandemic exacerbated already existing inequalities students faced in their persistence to graduate from college. The team used the social cognitive career theory as a conceptual framework for analysis. Our findings revealed that when respondents compared their life before COVID-19 with their present state, FGCS were less likely to perceive they had enough money to return to college, felt overwhelmed and lonely by added stress, and were more likely to see an increase in family responsibilities.

First-generation and continuing-generation college graduates’ application, acceptance, and matriculation to U.S. medical schools: a national cohort study

ABSTRACT Many U.S. medical schools conduct holistic review of applicants to enhance the socioeconomic and experiential diversity of the physician workforce. The authors examined the role of first-generation college-graduate status on U.S. medical school application, acceptance, and matriculation, hypothesizing that first-generation (vs. continuing-generation) college graduates would be less likely to apply and gain acceptance to medical school.Secondary analysis of de-identified data from a retrospective national-cohort study was conducted for individuals who completed the 2001–2006 Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Pre-Medical College Admission Test Questionnaire (PMQ) and the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT). AAMC provided medical school application, acceptance, and matriculation data through 06/09/2013. Multivariable logistic regression models identified demographic, academic, and experiential variables independently associated with each outcome and differences between first-generation and continuing-generation students. Of 262,813 PMQ respondents, 211,216 (80.4%) MCAT examinees had complete data for analysis and 24.8% self-identified as first-generation college graduates. Of these, 142,847 (67.6%) applied to U.S. MD-degree-granting medical schools, of whom 86,486 (60.5%) were accepted, including 14,708 (17.0%) first-generation graduates; 84,844 (98.1%) acceptees matriculated. Adjusting for all variables, first-generation (vs. continuing-generation) college graduates were less likely to apply (odds ratio [aOR] 0.84; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.82–0.86) and be accepted (aOR 0.86; 95% CI, 0.83–0.88) to medical school; accepted first-generation college graduates were as likely as their continuing-generation peers to matriculate. Students with (vs. without) paid work experience outside hospitals/labs/clinics were less likely to apply, be accepted, and matriculate into medical school. Increased efforts to mitigate structural socioeconomic vulnerabilities that may prevent first-generation college students from applying to medical school are needed. Expanded use of holistic review admissions practices may help decision makers value the strengths first-generation college graduates and other underrepresented applicants bring to medical educationand the physician workforce.

Current Insights.

The Current Insights feature is designed to introduce life science educators and researchers to current articles of interest in other social science and education journals. In this installment, I highlight three recent studies from the fields of psychology and higher education that can inform practices in the life sciences. The first is a synthesis paper that builds a unifying framework for the diverse activities that fall under the umbrella term “active learning.” This paper emphasizes a novel aspect of the active-learning classroom: student agency. The second paper employs an underutilized framework in biology education research, quantitative critical theory, to explore why faculty–student interactions may not be universally beneficial. The third paper explores how valuing relationships can keep first-generation college students from reaching out for help when they need it. Together, these last two papers help researchers understand the perceived costs and benefits of seeking help from faculty.

Undergraduate Student Experiences with Citizen Science Highlight Potential to Broaden Scientific Engagement

Opportunities for marginalized students (such as women, Black, Latinx, and Indigenous students, first-generation college students, LGBTQ+-identified individuals, and people/personswith disabilities) to engage in undergraduate research can help increase their persistence in STEM degrees and careers. The incorporation of citizen science projects into higher education provides unique opportunities for undergraduate students to get involved in scientific research, yet there is still much to be learned about how students, especially those with marginalized identities, interact with and perceive citizen science in higher education settings. Our goal was to understand student perspectives on citizen science, examine connections between participation in citizen science and student interest and sense of belonging in science, and explore how this varies based on demographic attributes. We did this using a case study with a mixed-methods design: a survey of students at a large predominantly white institution (PWI) (n = 143) and interviews with a subset of citizen science participants (n = 6). Results indicate that participation in citizen science occurred both within and outside of traditional classroom settings. Citizen science was valued most by students with an existing interest in science, and students who participated in citizen science projects reported a stronger sense of belonging in science. Our study uncovered challenges and misconceptions related to citizen science participation within higher education settings, highlighting the need for a commitment to broadening participation. Additional investigations of student perspectives regarding citizen science could allow for broader engagement of citizen science projects in higher education, ultimately helping to retain marginalized students in STEM.

Building a biomedical pipeline: the impact of the Idaho IDeA INBRE summer research experience at a primarily undergraduate institution.

Idaho Institutional Development Award (IDeA) Network for Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE) aims to build biomedical research capacity and enhance the scientific and technology knowledge of the Idaho workforce. A key INBRE Program at The College of Idaho, a primarily undergraduate institution of 1,100 students, is a 10-wk summer fellows research experience. This report documents outcomes from 2005 to present, including demographic trends, faculty and student research productivity, self-reported gains, educational attainment, and career outcomes. Of 103 participants, 83.7% were from Idaho, 26.7% from rural areas, and 23.9% first-generation college students. Faculty and student research productivity (conference presentations and peer-reviewed publications) increased threefold. We found that 91.4% of fellows entered a scientific- or healthcare-related career and that 70.7% completed or are currently enrolled in postgraduate training (51.7% doctoral and 19.0% master's level). Anonymous surveys were uniformly positive, with gains in self-confidence and independent laboratory work. Open-ended responses indicated students valued mentoring efforts and improved awareness of scientific opportunities and competitive preparation for postgraduate training. Lastly, we observed that student research involvement increased college-wide during the award period. These data suggest that the summer fellows program is successfully meeting National Institutes of Health IDeA goals and serving as a pipeline to future health research careers and a scientifically trained Idaho workforce.

Female first-generation college students: A review of challenges and successes

With increasing college access rates of underrepresented populations in recent years, first-generation college students (FGCSs), those who are the first in their family to attend college, have caught the attention of researchers and policymakers in the U.S. higher education system. This study focused on female FGCSs to identify the various challenges that are unique to this population. Through a systematic literature review, 13 studies were analyzed related to female FGCSs. Three themes were found from the analysis: role expectations, support systems, and socioeconomic background. These explain the challenges and self-identified strategies that female FGCSs discussed as contributing factors to their persistence during their degree attainment. Findings and a discussion of the data are presented, along with practical implications to better support female FGCSs and areas for future research.

Mapping a New Frontier: Graduate Student Socialization for First-Generation Students

Abstract Higher education attainment has a powerful ability to increase the social and economic mobility of individuals and contribute to the human capital development of diverse communities and nations. Despite the numerous benefits of collegiate attainment, research has shown that opportunities to attain a college degree and advance within the academy are not the same for all students. Specifically, students from nontraditional college-going backgrounds—specifically first-generation college students—are often hindered by structures and norms that devalue their myriad social, cultural, and intersectional experiences and wisdom. While institutions of higher education have increased investment in improving student access and retention at the undergraduate level, comparatively little attention has been paid to the enrollment, persistence, and graduation of first-generation students at the graduate school level. This article examines the experience of “first-gen” graduate students and argues that, in order to undermine rather than replicate civically corrosive structures of class and race inequality over the long term, institutions of higher education must better support first-generation graduate students in their efforts to join the academic ranks.

Instructional Note: Careers Matter when Life Is Precarious: Finding Freedom and Agency in the Composition Classroom

This article is about the distinct challenges first-generation college students face in envisioning future careers. I discuss how the composition classroom can be a space for reflection that addresses immediate needs while also helping students cultivate agency via career exploration.

First-Generation Students, College Majors, and Gendered Pathways

ABSTRACT Emerging literatures have highlighted the social- and resource-related inequalities among first-generation college students. Less attention has been devoted to the curricular pathways (i.e., college majors) these students follow and their potentially gendered character. We build on educational inequality and gender literatures in this article, and arguments surrounding habitus and class-based dispositions to address this gap. Our analyses draw on several waves of the Education Longitudinal Survey (ELS-2002) merged with national data on sex composition of fields of study. Our results suggest unique pathways in college for first-generation compared to continuing-generation students. Specifically, first-generation students are more likely to choose occupationally specific “applied” majors than their continuing-generation counterparts. Modeling by gender reveals little to moderate variation between first- and continuing-generation students’ representation in female-dominated majors. These patterns generally hold for 2- and 4-year college going samples. We conclude by discussing the relevance of these findings for educational inequality, eventual job returns, and occupational mobility.

A Psychosociocultural View of Hispanic First-Generation College Students’ Graduation Rates

First-generation college students (FGCS), nearly 50% of which identify as Hispanic, are an underserved population. The psychosociocultural theoretical framework posits that individual, environmental, and cultural factors contribute to the academic success of Hispanic students. This study examined the relationship between these factors (i.e., demographics, academic self-efficacy, meeting with professors, and attending cultural programming) to 6-year bachelor’s degree attainment and time to bachelor’s degree attainment among Hispanic students at a Hispanic Serving Institution ( n = 358). Being better prepared academically, being female, and having greater academic self-efficacy were positively related to bachelor’s degree attainment; FGCS status was negatively related. Among students who graduated ( n = 208), entering college being better prepared academically, and having greater academic self-efficacy were related to quicker bachelor’s degree attainment; FGCS status was not significantly related. Practitioners may pay more attention to Hispanic students’ academic self-efficacy and the success of Hispanic male students.

“We Support You … to an Extent”: Identities, Intersections, and Family Support Among First-Generation Students in a School of Social Work

Family support is a critical part of college student retention. Given the strength of parental educational attainment in predicting access and persistence among college students (Choy, 2001), some have questioned the capacity for families to support first-generation college students. Family support may be especially critical for first-generation college students, who value interdependence more highly than continuing generation students (Stephens et al., 2012). This paper centers the perspectives of first-generation students in a school of social work and their experiences of family support. Focus group conversations were analyzed using the Listening Guide/Voice-centered relational data analysis (Brown & Gilligan, 1992). My interpretations were also guided by Black Feminist Thought (Crenshaw, 2000; Hill Collins, 1990) and Post-Modern Feminism (Campbell & Wasco, 2000), offering an intersectional, relationally-focused analysis of the nuances of family support. Findings highlight students’ perceptions of family support, and the role that cultural expectations related to gender, race, and class play in shaping contradictory messages of family support. I offer implications for educators in schools of social work, including troubling narratives of social mobility, as part of the larger project of enhancing social justice in academia (Saulnier & Swigonski, 2006).

Unrecognized Strengths - The power of being you

I’m not smart enough…I don’t have the experiences they’re looking for…I’m not qualified. That’s what I told my mentor when he encouraged me to apply for psychology PhD programs. I was a Latinx first-generation college student from a working-class immigrant family. I thought there was absolutely no way I could get in. Troubled that I held these beliefs, my mentor explained that it is precisely because of my diverse identity and lived experiences that I would benefit the scientific community.

The Neoliberalization of Higher Education: Paradoxing Students' Basic Needs at a Hispanic-Serving Institution

Millions of college students in the United States lack access to adequate food, housing, and other basic human needs. These insecurities have only been exacerbated in recent decades by the country's neoliberal approach to higher education, with disproportionately negative consequences for historically underserved populations (e.g., racial/ethnic minorities, low-income students, and first-generation college students). For each of these reasons, this study explores the organizational paradoxes faced by students attending a public, 4-year Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) in southern California. Drawing upon 30 semi-structured interviews with undergraduates who self-identified as historically underserved, our three-stage conceptualization of data analysis revealed three specific paradoxes: (1) provision vs. dependence, (2) sympathy vs. distancing, and (3) bootstrapping vs. unattainability. We conclude with practical and theoretical implications for alleviating the repercussions of neoliberal policies on today's college students.

The Hohmann transfer as an application for teaching introductory physics

We discuss a two-week module on astrodynamics that uses the Hohmann transfer—a space maneuver used to travel between two planetary orbits—as a capstone assignment, unifying a variety of introductory physics topics. The module was part of a summer bridge program for incoming STEM majors at our institution with the aim of facilitating the transition to college by helping students develop computational skills, competency in physics and engineering concepts, and effective habits needed for success and persistence in STEM. The Hohmann transfer was selected because it is challenging and unfamiliar to most students, yet utilizes a variety of basic physics topics. The course culminated in designing a trip from Earth to Venus, which students simulated themselves in VPython. No prior knowledge of physics or programming was required. Thirty students who declared majors in Engineering, Computer Science, Mathematics, and Physics completed the course in the summers of 2018 and 2019. All students were low-income, Pell-eligible, and most were first-generation college students. Over 90% of students were Black or Hispanic. This group is most at risk of leaving STEM, yet 80% of students who took this course were retained in STEM. In this paper, we present the course goals and learning objectives, details on the computational modeling of the Hohmann transfer, and student outcomes including grades, retention rates, survey results, and interview data.

Communicative Resilience of First-Generation College Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract As U.S. higher education institutions closed their campuses and transitioned to online education due to the high risk for COVID-19 transmission, first-generation college students (FGS) were particularly susceptible to multiple stressors. Findings from a sample of 44 participants reveal seven resilience triggers, four resilience processes, and three relationships between resilience processes and triggers. Based on these findings, we advance the communication theory of resilience by establishing the ways triggers can be structural, emergent, and overlapping and by theorizing resilience processes as both enduring and time-bound/contingent. We also employ a new qualitative method, thematic co-occurrence analysis, to illuminate the relationships between the resilience triggers and processes. Practical applications for higher education administrators, teaching instructors, and student support professionals are described.