What Got Me Here: The Precollege Decision-Making Processes of First-Generation College Students

• In Event: 66.059 - Poster Session 14
  In Poster Session: 66.059-5 - Poster Session 1: Motivational Processes

Abstract

This phenomenological study examined the precollege decision-making processes of first-generation college students (FGS) using an expectancy value framework. Researchers have thus far conducted five semi-structured interviews with first-year, FGS and another fifteen are planned for fall of 2016. Analyses of the five interview transcripts found common themes describing students’ precollege expectancies, values of college, and perceptions of costs associated with college attendance. Contextual sources of expectancies and values, including the avoidance of negative possible selves (Oyserman, Brickman, & Rhodes, 2007) have emerged as motivation for college completion and reinforced the sociocultural nature of EVT. Understanding the precollege decision-making processes of FGS offered implications for facilitating their college transition.

Authors

• David Bryant Naff, Virginia Commonwealth University

• Anita Crowder, Virginia Commonwealth University

• Samantha Hope, Virginia Commonwealth University

• Kathleen M. Cauley, Virginia Commonwealth University