Predictors of First-Generation Students' Graduate School Aspirations

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session 6
  In Roundtable Session: The Graduate Student Experience

Abstract

The most recent data suggests that just 30% of doctoral degree recipients are first-generation (NSF, 2015). This is a historical systemic issue because institutions were not designed to support first-generation students’ needs. This inequitable design is being perpetuated and replicated even today because institutions do not cater to the needs of first-generation undergraduates, particularly sharing targeted resources to help unravel the complexities and intricacies of academia’s hidden curriculum.

This study seeks to understand the experiences of first-generation undergraduates and how exposure to research experiences may predict graduate school aspirations. This quantitative study utilizes the 2015-2019 dataset from the Cooperative Institutional Research Program’s 2015 Freshman Survey (TFS) and the 2019 College Senior Survey (CSS) to run descriptives and OLS regression models.

Author

• Harmeet Kaur Kalsi, University of California - Los Angeles