"First-generation college student" is a category ubiquitous in higher education literature due to the social mobility this group has the potential of deriving from educational attainment. However, the first category is comprised of a diverse group of students who do not share any other common research construct, such as race/ethnicity,…

This evidenced-based study was conducted using a systemic review of the literature to verify scholarly consensus about the effectiveness of mentoring as an intervention to impact college completion for underrepresented students in a community college setting. The study explored the impact of having access to mentors for the target population:…

The purpose of this study was to understand how White students from low socioeconomic status backgrounds (operationalized as students who are both low income and of the first generation in their family to attend college) experience and navigate social class during college. This was a qualitative research study employing a phenomenological research…

This work develops a constructivist grounded theory describing the influence of family and those that serve a role similar to family on the academic decision making of undergraduate first generation in college (FGC) students majoring in engineering. FGC students, in this study, are students with neither parent having attained a bachelor's…

Low-income, first-generation, and minority students often face a range of challenges in the college choice process that prevent them from attending colleges and universities that are a good fit and match for their needs. As a result, such students are less likely to persist and graduate after enrolling in college. This "Research to…

As the Australian higher education population further diversifies as a result of federal government policy changes, the collective understanding of effective university teaching in the Australian context will need to evolve to incorporate such shifts. The Australian Government has set clear targets for increased university participation of people…

This study investigates differences in academic engagement and retention between first-generation and non-first-generation undergraduate students. Utilizing the Student Experience in the Research University survey of 1864 first-year students at a large, public research university located in the United States, this study finds that first-generation…

Taking a multiperspective approach, seven Latina students, two student services personnel, and one mental health service provider are interviewed to gain different stakeholder perspectives regarding Latina first-generation college educational and coping experiences. Familial involvement and connections with family, peers, and university personnel…

The expansion of higher education in the UK has been accompanied by ongoing class related inequalities in expectations about, and access to, university. In the context of detailed research into middle-class and working-class experiences and difference, there have been calls for more detailed analysis of internal class diversity, and for…

The role of generational status (first-generation vs. continuing-generation college students) as a moderator of the relationship between psychological factors and college outcomes was tested to determine whether generational status acts as a risk factor or as a sensitizing factor. The sample consisted of 322 undergraduate students who completed…

This study compares first-generation and continuing-generation female college students in terms of: (a) level of parents' emotional and informational support; (b) level of students' stress; and (c) the relationship between both types of parent support and students' stress during the transition to college. We collected survey data from an…

The community college is the primary path that Hispanic students choose to start their college careers. Americans who speak English as their second language will continue to grow and require community colleges to offer more culturally diverse educational programs with specific resources devoted to them. This qualitative study was comprised of 11…

This qualitative case study supplemented by quantitative data was employed to explore the understandings that 13 undergraduate students from a single Dean's Future Scholars (DFS) cohort held concerning the contributions of the six major components of DFS to their persistence into the second semester of their sophomore year of college at the…

First-generation students enroll in college expecting to be the first in their families to obtain a bachelor's degree, yet historically; the number of these students who graduate with four-year degrees is much lower than their non first-generation peers (Nunez & Cuccara-Alamin; Choy, 2001; Glenn, 2008). Limited research exists on the…

This study considers how advising ePortfolios are uniquely situated to address a current challenge in the application of educational technologies: using the right tool for the right job for the right reason at the right time. The particular problem identified for investigation lies at the intersection of two central issues: first, in the age of…