Fake It 'Til You Make It: Why Community College Students' Aspirations Hold Steady

• In Event: 331 - Regular Session. Sociology of Higher Education I - Aspiring Students, Aspiring Organizations: The Social Construction of Identity and Status in Higher Education

Abstract

Sociologists of education have explored the relationship between students’ postsecondary aspirations and community colleges. However, little attention has been directed toward students whose aspirations remain stable over long periods of time and the different roles that college degree goals play in the lives of disadvantaged students. This article examines the reasons that low-income women “hold steady” to their aspirations for college degrees. I argue that the women in this study use two dominant narrative frameworks—pragmatic job seeking and moral self-improvement—to explain their persistent aspirations. Both narrative frameworks are rooted in an ambition imperative that links aspirations for college attainment within broader claims for moral status and the pursuit of virtuous social membership. By showing the way that these students use aspirations, this article contributes to our understanding of aspirations and offers an alternative explanation of the institutional effects of community colleges in the lives of some students. This paper suggests that community colleges help to generate moral equity even as they struggle to produce equitable degree attainment.

Author

• Kelly J. Nielsen, University of California-San Diego