An Exploration of How Low-Income Students Engage in Extracurricular and Co-Curricular Undergraduate Life

• In Event: 77.033 - Student Engagement and Success in Higher Education

Abstract

This Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) study employs in-depth qualitative interviewing to investigate how nine low-income undergraduates choose to engage in extracurricular and co-curricular activities. Research participants were drawn from a federal TRIO program housed within a public university with a large population of successful low-income graduates. Findings suggest that providing for basic financial needs, clearly demonstrating the link between engagement and future career goals and emphasizing the opportunity to serve the collective may be important tools that student support services practitioners can use to encourage low-income college student engagement in extracurricular and co-curricular activities.

Author

• Kimberly Stevens, Harvard University