This phenomenological study explored the perceptions of support first-generation women students enrolled in college have. Eleven first-generation women students who were enrolled in undergraduate and graduate programs across the United States completed one-on-one interviews. The participants explained the support they felt from family, friends,…

Project Midstate Student Support for Teaching (MSS) (http://www.uis.edu/projectmss/) is an initiative at University of Illinois Springfield (UIS) designed to increase the number of first generation and diverse teacher candidates in area school districts. Students accepted into MSS receive full tuition waivers, a $200 book stipend per semester, and…

Community colleges and minority serving institutions play important roles in the U.S. higher education system. These open and predominantly broad access institutions serve more first-generation, low-income, post-traditional, and racially and ethnically diverse student populations than any other sector. Institutional leaders will increasingly need…

Many colleges are pursuing innovative alternative approaches for the development of education that aims to accelerate students' progress in gaining important academic competencies. Summer bridge programs are one such approach. These bridge programs offer underprepared and at-risk students the opportunity to advance toward college-level coursework…

This paper addresses the challenge of developing a conceptual framing for the meaning of value with respect to higher education. The author argues that criteria derived from analyses of the life histories of longstanding graduates, which often take the form of counternarratives and proceed from that which matters to them, can inform an evaluative…

Impostor syndrome--feeling like a fraud who does not belong--is commonly reported by postsecondary students. Using a cross-sectional survey, we found that heightened imposturous feelings were reported by students of subjectively lower socioeconomic status (SES), and that this association was explained by lower university engagement. Further, if a…

This study set out to examine factors that influence and motivate foundations in their decision-making strategies to support Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), and how decisions are shaped by the identity, characteristics, and institutional advancement offices at these institutions of higher learning. Twelve semi-structured interviews were…

The purpose of this exploratory study is to assess the ways in which instructors teaching first-generation college students at a branch campus come to understand these students as being different from other students they teach, and if and how they develop teaching practices and pedagogies more effective for first-generation students. There is a…

The purpose of this study was to explore the resources that first-generation college graduates found to be most effective toward receiving a full-time job offer within six months of completing their bachelor's degree. First-generation college students are often an overlooked population on college campuses beyond their sophomore year of study.…

Many Hispanic male students, who are often the first in their family to attend college, face distinctive challenges while attempting to obtain a higher education degree. The purpose of this study was to explore how a sample of 12th grade Hispanic male students in the rural Southwestern United States experience an Early College High School (ECHS)…

As the number of first-generation college students enrolling in colleges and universities continues to increase, so does the need for university administrators to create resources that better enhance first-generation college students' persistence and attainment of a bachelor's degree. One area that has often been overlooked is the role that…

This article builds upon Yosso's Community Cultural Wealth framework to propose a Latinidad model of Maternal Cultural Wealth (MCW). Drawing from the experiences of Latinos whose persistence motivations are rooted in their desire to honor mothers for their love, resilience, protection, and sacrifice, MCW proposes filial piety and custodial,…

Community college students are more likely to be low-income, people of color and first generation in their family to attend higher education than their four-year peers. For a combination of these reasons, they are more apt to be housing insecure. This article discusses how some community colleges are providing new solutions for residences for…

This phenomenological research study explored how Latina college students developed their STEM identities, particularly focusing on the influence of "familismo" within the STEM identity development process. The study found that (1) interdependence and attachment from family members supported the STEM journey; (2) family members both in…

Low-income, first-generation (LIFG) student college enrollment has been steadily increasing over the last decade. This group of marginalized students is typically overlooked as needing additional support as they often lack any visual indicators of their LIFG status. LIFG students arrive on campus with unique goals, stories, and challenges but…