Filling the Potholes: How College Access Programs Aid Participants' Journeys to, Through, and Beyond College

• In Event: Moscone Center North Roundtable Session 8
  In Roundtable Session: Two- and Four-Year Student Success: Advising, Coaching, and Nudging

Abstract

College access programs (CAPs) have proliferated in the United States to address the disparity in undergraduate enrollment between White and higher-income students whose families have longer histories of college-going, and racial/ethnic minority and lower-income students who are first in their families to attend college. For the latter, the road to and through college has been described as “filled with potholes”. This qualitative study explores the experiences of 24 CAP “alumni” who enrolled in college and describes how their CAPs aided their journeys to, through and beyond college. Thus, it extends the research on CAPs, shedding light on their efforts to reduce inequalities in college enrollment, experiences and outcomes between these groups.

Author

• Leslie A. Williams, Teachers College, Columbia University