The literature investigating academic help-seeking suggests that first-generation college students are less likely to seek out help, less likely to attend office hours, and are less likely to use campus resources than continuing generation students. However, there is a lack in the literature investigating (a) what first-generation students do when…

Overall, there has been an increase in students earning bachelor's degrees, but for first-generation college students (FGCS), the overall percentage earning a degree is decreasing. Overall, the available literature provides information about the factors that lead to the disparities experienced by FGCS (i.e., socioeconomic factors, cultural…

Success in first-year mathematics has been linked to students' success in college and graduation rates, which is critical for first generation-college students because they enter college facing many challenges their peers may not experience. This literature review explores previous research related to the relationship between first-generation…

For more than three decades, Australian higher education policy has been guided by a national equity framework focussed on six underrepresented target groups: Indigenous Australians, people from low socioeconomic status backgrounds, people from regional and remote areas, people with disabilities, people from non-English speaking backgrounds, and…

Universities have long sought to contribute to civic engagement and democratic participation by their development of students. This study examines political orientation changes that occur within the first year of college and student background characteristics, plans, and experiences that predict these changes. Descriptive statistics first describe…

This research explored the role of a hub of innovation in spreading changes that support at-promise (low-income, first-generation, racially minoritized) students from smaller programs to the broader campus environment. The study has several important insights, including the ability of a hub to spread innovations, supportive mechanisms that can…

This research study seeks to explain how perceptions about higher education impact persistence in first-generation students within the University of Maine System. The design uses semi-structured interviews as well as data from the University of Maine System's 2020 National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) to analyze how engagement and…

This qualitative meta-synthesis studied what makes first-generation college students stronger for success in the United States. The study adopted Tinto (1975) as the theoretical framework in the synthesis of research findings from seventeen peer-reviewed empirical qualitative studies. The research is centered around three research questions: (1)…

Many companies use artificial intelligence (AI) to screen job applicants. With more colleges also adopting AI programs to provide feedback on job seekers' applications, will students be receptive to using these tools? This research shows certain key factors -- perceptions of AI program effectiveness and enjoyability, higher networking anxiety, and…

Achieving a higher education remains a significant goal in the lives of young people. For many high school juniors and seniors, attending a college or university to continue their studies is seen as an inevitable step into adulthood. However, the high school to college transition can come with a plethora of challenges, and first-generation…

The purpose of this study was to understand the experiences of first-generation community college faculty through narrative inquiry. Qualitative data were collected through semi-standard interviews with full-time community college faculty who were first-generation college students. In the first level of analysis, narrative accounts were created…

Great effort has been invested in increasing STEM achievement among students, but feelings of low status among underrepresented or otherwise vulnerable students may be creating additional challenges. The present study assessed how perceptions of social status within the classroom--termed subjective social status--aligned with objective course…

The development of transferable skills is seen as an important factor for higher education institutions to enhance the employability of their graduates (Holmes, 2013; Tymon, 2013). An overarching purpose of the higher education system is to prepare students for their professional careers and lives. This qualitative instrumental single case study…

The phenomenological research study explores the lived experience of Black first-generation college students navigating the financial aid process to understand how they experience the process of using financial aid to pay for college through degree attainment. Higher education is aligned with social and occupational mobility. Financial aid has its…

We explored the connotations and stigmas surrounding the term first-generation college student (FGCS) among FGCSs and their peers from continuing-generation backgrounds in higher education. We used a mixed-methods approach, conducting qualitative interviews to gain in-depth perspectives and a quantitative survey to gather comparative data. We…