Beyond Access: Examining Low-Income Students' Academic and Social Transition to a Highly Selective Public University

• In Event: Inequalities in Higher Education

Abstract

This study investigates how low-income students transition to and navigate the academic and social environment of a highly selective, public research university. Focus group and survey data suggest that low-income students’ perceptions of the university were shaped by their financial and family circumstances, beliefs about academic preparedness, and patterns of college attendance at their high schools. Students initially questioned their ability to “fit in” with the university’s elite, competitive culture, but over the course of their first semester, found strategies to navigate the academic and social environment of the institution. Students also drew upon their life experiences as a source of strength and motivation for succeeding, exhibiting a sense of resiliency in the face of challenges.

Authors

• Kristen Glasener, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

• Kelly Slay, University of Maryland - College Park

• Danielle Santos, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

• Steven Lonn, University of Michigan

• Kedra Ishop, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor