How First-Generation College Students Make Meaning of College Access Programs in Effort to Matriculate

• In Event: 56.081 - Roundtable Session 24
  In Roundtable Session: 56.081-9 - Lens of Accessibility: Stories From Marginalized Communities

Abstract

Through the theoretical frameworks of Communities of Cultural Wealth (Yosso, 2005, 2006) and Critical Theory (Kincheloe & McLaren, 2002), this research asked how first generation college students used non-profit and government funded college access programs to prepare for and gain access to college. Through qualitative methodology, 47 first generation college students at a private university participated in two rounds of focus groups or interviews. The data showed how first generation college students and college access programs built upon Yosso’s (2006) Communities of Cultural Wealth, displayed “college uplift,” and demonstrated the need for systemic change to better support first generation college-going students.

Author

• Staci A. Weber, Pine Manor College