First-generation students are the first in their family to attend college, and typically lack the support networks available to their peers, whose parents completed a four-year degree (Pascarella, Pierson, Wolniak, & Terenzini, 2004). The concerns and challenges of first-generation student success rates compared with their peers who are coming…

It is important to enhance meta-cognitive skills that control one's learning process to acquire a desired level of learning. Students with good meta-cognitive skills can concentrate his or her attention on learning unit; make a contrast between essential and irrelevant information; use the strategies that are effective to keep the information and…

Success in the first year of college is due in part to how well students can adjust to the demands of school and integrate into collegiate life. Social cognitive factors such as self-efficacy relating to college activities, academic resilience, social support, and academic stress may contribute to students' overall feelings of belonging and…

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study is to describe the lived experiences of first-generation college students (FGCSs) majoring in music education at a small, private university in the southeastern United States. Through understanding FGCSs' experiences, university faculty and administrators can make informed decisions that…

In higher education, there is a gap in our collective understanding of how outcomes data collected with standardized instruments and used to respond to accountability demands, is accurate and trustworthy for first-generation college students. Research in culturally responsive evaluation and measurement on equivalence across groups highlights that…

In this descriptive study, I examined data from the Bill and Melinda Gates Millennial Scholars Cohort 3 Survey Data whom are high- achieving, low-income, historically marginalized college students, to identify the unique characteristics of students whose parents have not attended college. More specifically, academic preparation, academic…

The decision to choose teaching as a career is a commitment fewer people are making and a decision that is rife with complexity. The current state of teacher shortages and attrition both nationally and internationally impels us to investigate this situation. Within the area of career decision-making, the concept being researched most focuses on…

First-generation college (FGC) students compose nearly a third of the total student population in most four-year higher education institutions in the United States. Yet they graduate in drastically lower rates than their non-first-generation peers. To understand how these students can persist with their college learning, faculty need to…

This study offers recommendations for community college personnel in assisting first-generation Mexican American male college students access and properly utilize college agents and services to succeed and transfer to a four-year institution. Students must recognize that colleges have many programs and services designed to help them become…

Existing research illustrates that although Latinos make up the largest ethnic minority group in the country, Latinos continue to have the lowest college degree attainment rates (Ramirez, 2014). Despite the increasing rates of high school graduation rates, there remains a large educational achievement gap between Latinos and their white and Asian…

The narrative of first-generation, low-income students (FGLI) has a long, and often complicated tradition in the history of American higher education. FGLI students experience challenges in postsecondary retention. FGLI students are rapidly enrolling in higher education, but they are dropping out of college at alarming rates. Over 4.5 million FGLI…

The rapid shift from face-to-face to remote instruction in 2020 has resulted in recalibration of lecture and laboratory pedagogy. This research analyzed the impact of remote learning on student motivation and sense of belonging in large enrollment chemistry courses. Student responses were parsed according to specific demographics including gender,…

Prior literature suggests that self-transcendence (other-oriented) values may be a primary mechanism for moving beyond transitory feelings of empathy toward a compassionate orientation to addressing structural injustice. Active learning techniques in the classroom may then offer a fruitful platform for students to engage in the critical reflection…

This study uses a subsample from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health to examine protective factors for lower-income, first-generation students. A logistic regression model is used to explore the impacts of (1) gender, (2) race, (3) perceived sense of belonging during middle or high school, and 4) protective adult…

A multiple regression analysis was performed to determine if self-esteem, social support, locus of control, or coping strategies could predict perceived stress in first-generation college students. All variables studied were found to predict stress, while self-esteem and emotional-support seeking coping added statistical significance to the…