“Power Within”: Exploring the Strengths and Assets That Empower First-Generation Students on Their College Journeys

• In Event: Thursday Roundtable Session 9:00 am
  In Roundtable Session: Engaging Students' Strengths and Assets to Foster Postsecondary Success (Table 28)

Abstract

The first-generation (FGEN) student demographic is one of the most quickly growing groups on college campuses. Much prior research on the FGEN student experience is framed within a deficit model of understanding; however, more recent research has begun to utilize an asset-based approach to explore FGEN experiences and how institutions support or inhibit student success. This mixed methods explanatory sequential study used surveys and interviews with FGEN students to better understand the self-identified assets FGEN students utilized during their college experiences to aid their success. Key findings include the intersectionality of assets identified by students, particularly between familial and aspirational capital and between social and navigational capital, as well as how institutions can build on these assets.

Authors

• Matt Daily, Idaho State University

• JoAnn Lee, University of Portland

• Rebecca Smith, University of Portland

• Nicole Ralston, University of Portland