Low-Income College Students’ Academic Success: Exploring the Role of Spatial Differences in Precollege Communities

• In Event: Rethinking equity in higher education

Abstract

Low-income college students comprise a large share of college-goers but face a number of potential challenges to their college success. Low-income students are not a monolith and appropriately matching postsecondary resources and support to low-income students’ multi-dimensional needs, assets, and identities is critical to their academic success. One understudied aspect of low-income college student identities and backgrounds that deserves further attention is the diverse range of precollege communities they hail from - spanning rural, suburban, and urban areas. The purpose of this study is to examine how the nature of low-income students’ precollege community is related to their first-year academic success. Our study deepens and complicates our understanding of low-income students’ college transition experiences and academic success.

Authors

• N Tennessen, University of Iowa

• Joseph Kitchen, University of Southern California

• Zoë Corwin, University of Southern California

• Nicholas A. Bowman, University of Iowa