Everyday Equity: Micropractices That Build Cultural and Structural Inclusion for Low-Income, First-Generation College Students

• In Event: Equity-Minded Perspectives on Student Success

Abstract

This paper investigates a crucial but understudied group of institutions in higher education: colleges and universities that admit large numbers of low-income, first-generation (LIFG) students and graduate them at rates far above the national average. These mid-status institutions do a disproportionate amount of equity work in the field but are undervalued and poorly understood. Building on prior higher education research and employing a cultural sociological lens, I examine the everyday work of faculty, staff, and administrators in two distinct “LIFG Success Institutions.” Drawing on data generated from a year of ethnographic fieldwork and in-depth interviews, I link three micro-level practices employed by actors at both universities which mitigate institutional marginalization of LIFG students and direct valuable resources their way.

Author

• Becca Spindel Bassett, University of Arkansas