Extending the Literature on First-Generation University Students: A Phenomenological Study of Chilean Experiences

• In Event: 44.084 - Roundtable Session 18
  In Roundtable Session: 44.084-12 - Pathway to Degree

Abstract

This paper explores Chilean first-generation university students’ (FGUS) experiences in and out of school and how those experiences influenced their access to and continued enrollment in universities in Chile. A phenomenological approach was used to describe the experiences of eleven participants from different genders, ethnicities, universities, and social and cultural backgrounds. The participants’ experiences illuminate how being a FGUS co-occurs with other life challenges (like being a mother and raising a child or earning an income to afford university expenses). Other accounts shed light on how indigenous identity at overwhelmingly non-indigenous institutions of higher education make the sensing of discrepancies between school and home even more acute.

Author

• Andrea Flanagan, Universidad de Valparaiso, Chile