What Does It Mean to Belong? First-Generation Students Negotiating a Sense of Belonging in Elite College Settings

• In Event: 29.090 - Roundtable Session 9
  In Roundtable Session: 29.090-11 - Secondary and Postsecondary Persistence Among Marginalized Youth

Abstract

Drawing on pilot interviews with twenty-one first generation college students attending elite liberal arts colleges, this paper explores students’ subjective sense of belonging in elite small liberal arts college settings. Student responses made clear the empirical distinction between objective measures of participation and affiliation in college-related activities (behavioral engagement) and students’ subjective sense of integration in campus life (sense of belonging). Three themes in students’ definitions of belonging emerged: 1) feeling like they “fit in” at a college, 2) their perceptions of whether others on campus thought they “fit in” or belonged at the college, and 3) whether students felt cared for and valued in the college community.

Authors

• Erendira Rueda, Vassar College

• Jesse Moya, Siena College