"It's Different Here": Complicating Concepts of "College Knowledge" and "First Generation" Through an Immigrant Lens

• In Event: Roundtable Session 3
  In Roundtable Session: The Importance of Relationships and College Knowledge for First-Generation College Students

Abstract

Children of immigrants are the fastest growing segment of the U.S. child population and these children are increasingly entering the U.S. educational pipeline and seeking access to college. Using qualitative methods, I explore how African immigrant multigenerational families engage in college preparation. Findings revealed that although the parents in these families had college degrees, all were educated abroad or in the U.S. as international students. Thus, their children are the first in the families to attempt entering college through the U.S. K-12 system. Families’ lack of familiarity with the U.S. college preparation process (college testing, academic tracking, cost of college/financial aid) leads to a call for complicating concepts of “college knowledge” and “first generation” to college in a globalized society.

Author

• Chrystal George Mwangi, University of Massachusetts - Amherst