More Just and Equitable Higher Education: Cultivating First-Generation College Student Success for the 21st Century

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

First-generation (FG) college students are a growing population, so understanding their retention, graduation, and success is imperative. However, the extant literature commonly offers deficit perspectives, emphasizing perceived inadequacies and barriers to FG student success. Instead of perpetuating this, the present symposium draws from several frameworks to highlight research on success among FG college students. Engaging various perspectives and methodologies, the papers presented examine success among FG college students at the intersection of other identities, including FG/low-income and FG/racially minoritized students, to advance the literature on FG college students’ success. Responding to the conference theme, “Cultivating Equitable Education Systems for the 21st Century,” this symposium offers multi-dimensional recommendations to bolster FG student success through building more equitable institutions of higher education.

Sub Unit

• Division J - Postsecondary Education / Division J - Section 2b: College Student Success

Chair

• Cassidy Alvarado, Loyola Marymount University

Papers

• Capitalizing on Funds of Knowledge to Inform First-Generation College Students' Engineering Persistence Beliefs - Jessica Smith, Colorado School of Mines; Dina Verdin, Arizona State University

• Classroom Experiences Contributing to First-Generation Low-Income College Student of Color Success - Geneva L. Sarcedo, University of Colorado - Denver

• First-Generation Latinx Students' Experiences in a Predominantly White Private Institution - Jacqueline Xiomara Aparicio, California State University - Long Beach

• The Experiences of First-Generation Afro–Puerto Rican Women College Students - Marie Nubia Feliciano, Chapman University

Discussant

• Rebecca Covarrubias, University of California - Santa Cruz