The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to describe how culture, disability, and prospective first-generation college student status influenced the transition decisions of five native Hawaiian students with specific learning disabilities who attended a Hawaiian-focused charter school. Students had strong ties to their history and…

National trends and goals have pushed beyond the dropout crisis and are now focused on raising the percentage of graduates prepared for college and career. This study examined a longitudinal cohort (n = 6443) of students in an urban, public school district in order to explore how districts and communities can redirect off-track high school…

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…

How individuals position themselves as "students" within the university landscape can provide insight into the personal experience of entering this environment. This article will explore how one group of female students narrated their identity work as they moved through the first year of study in an Australian university. These students…

In this article, the author describes the Involvement Center and Peer Involvement Advising Program at Stephen F. Austin State University which were developed to address the important and persistent problems in higher education. Early indications are that the program is quite effective in doing so. In its second full year of existence, the…

The present study examines whether the recognition of stereotypes undermines the academic performance of Hispanic students, a phenomenon known as "stereotype threat." With regard to race, stereotype threat has been examined predominately between African American and White students, yet limited research has investigated how Hispanic…

Students who are the first in their families to attend college are less likely to earn a college degree as compared to their continuing-generation peers. In efforts to increase college graduation rates for first-generation college students, support programs designed to assist first-generation college students are increasing in numbers. These…

The first year of college is one that is crucial for all students entering higher education due to the major transition issues that must be successfully navigated in order to persist to the sophomore year. Parental support has been shown to have a positive effect during this transition by providing positive coping mechanisms and allowing children…

Student engagement is a term that is loosely used throughout education and it is defined differently in the various stages of education. This study sought to find factors that predict student engagement for first-generation community college students using secondary data from the Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE). Using the…

This investigation determined the degree of importance for selected personal-psychological, academic, peer, financial, and family factors influencing the decision to attend college by first-generation, Appalachian (FGA) sophomore students. Outcomes were further related to the degree of academic and social integration in college and the likelihood…

Many historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) were founded more than 100 years ago primarily to educate former slaves and prepare them for teaching careers. Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs), however, do not have the same historical mission; those institutions have evolved into minority-serving institutions (MSIs) as Hispanics have…

This paper is the first in a two-part series focused on first-generation college students (FGCS) in Christian colleges. It provides an overview of the literature regarding the pre-enrollment needs and experiences of these students and will be followed by a second article focused on the support needs and persistence of FGCS. Because much of the…

In this article, we use interview data collected in a four-year longitudinal study of first-generation university students to answer the question: how might the ethnicity of first-generation students impact their university experiences? After briefly examining previous literature written on the educational achievement levels of ethnic-minority…

With increasing numbers of first-generation college students enrolling in colleges and universities across the US, so too is the need to begin preparing such underrepresented students for graduate school and a career in academia. As a phenomenological case study of student transformation, this dissertation examines the experience of nine…

Some colleges engage in unethical practices to balance their budgets, such as accepting "marginal" students who qualify for loans and government-backed financial aid but not providing these students with the services and programs they need to achieve success. Too many low-income students who are often first-generation students find…