Compared to the native first-generation college student, community college transfer first-generation students are more likely to experience a host of academic, social, and financial issues at the four-year institution (Bers, 2013: Fann, 2013). The issues that community college transfer first-generation students experience impact their level of…

The prevailing view of student retention has been shaped by theories that view student attrition through the lens of institutional action or inaction and less on the student's situation or college experiences. Students seek to persist and graduate, however obstacles get in their way. More than half of all student attrition takes place in the first…

Academic advising has been identified as a key strategy in helping students to persist and complete their academic goals. This exploratory case study investigated student perceptions of advising, particularly low-income and first-generation students participating in a TRIO Student Support Services program at a midsize midwestern community college.…

Two studies were conducted to better understand the association between higher education and adult success from the perspective of young adult student loan borrowers five years after graduating. Data for both studies were drawn from the Arizona Pathways to Life Success (APLUS) project. This sample borrowed during a period of changing economic…

Racial and ethnic minority groups face extraordinary challenges in access to and success in higher education due to the complicated history of racism in the US educational system and society. This thesis focuses on past and current practices that affect educational equity, college completion, and post-undergraduate success for Black…

This introductory report outlines the challenges of postsecondary completion, the variable value provided by a postsecondary pathway, and the corresponding cost and debt. Together, these challenges create an inequitable, ineffective, and unsustainable U.S. postsecondary system in which individuals are increasingly reluctant to participate or…

Earning a college degree is a major pathway to economic mobility. Although Black women enter college at higher rates than white, Hispanic, and Black men (for example, in 2020, Black women enrolled in college at a 40% rate, compared to 37% for White men, 31% for Black men, and 30% for Hispanic men) they still face barriers to degree completion,…

Among the theories that have been advanced for improving the participation of students in STEM is the postulation that family involvement in students' schooling is critical, as early as the precollege years. The prevalence of knowledge about the importance of familial support for students' success in STEM fields notwithstanding, the corpus of…

While researchers and policymakers have sought to understand factors that affect research productivity of universities and entrepreneurship activities of graduates, we know little about the graduates in the workforce who engage in knowledge creation. This study employs data from an alumni impact survey (N = 12,504) and alumni database of a large…

From 2017-2021, Mississippi State University's Department of Chemistry has hosted a 10-week summer Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program, focused on research related to food, energy, and water security topics. The goals of this program were to train students by providing an intensive research experience, recruit minority and…

This study examined undergraduate survey responses about a Title V center at a research university. Using a counterspaces framework, we analyzed the ways in which this Title V center provided first-generation and minoritized college students with academic and non-academic supports and a sense of community and belonging. Analyses illustrated that…

Undocumented college students are often simultaneously navigating multiple social, financial, educational, and legal barriers. The ways in which they navigate their educational journeys are inherently implicated in how they manage the disclosure of their legal status, but few investigations to date have explicitly examined undocumented students'…

A college degree has been shown to decrease the income gap, but disadvantaged students are at a greater risk of dropping out of college. This study explores meaning-making of students in an educational opportunity program (EOP), the Search for Education Elevation and Knowledge (SEEK) in the City University of New York system. It is important to…

The aim of the study was to investigate the differences between the academic success and the factors contributing to the success of first- and continuous-generation students in higher education within the South African context. Continuous-generation students achieved significantly higher levels of academic success and reported higher levels of…

Increasing diversity on college campuses suggests faculty need to develop ways of teaching diverse students. This study describes the teaching strategies of two sociology professors at a Hispanic-Serving Institution. Through observations, syllabi analysis, and interviews with the faculty and 18 racially and ethnically diverse first-generation…