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The first part of the study attempts to summarise the most frequently used and cited theories and empirical findings in the field of first generation students. The specialist literature has identified those factors (cultural background of family, parents’ special attitude toward learning, the features of the time-budget etc.) which can generate a disadvantageous situation within the higher education system for these students. However, the presence of this group is a significant indicator of the openness of a society and social mobility, and a more careful analysis of this population may reduce the drop-out rate, as well. During the empirical analysis two databases were used (Eurostudent VI, Hungarian Youth Research 2012 and 2016). Our results draw attention to the process of social closure and the decreasing chance of attending higher education for young people from lower social groups. This unfavourable shift can mirror the relatively closed features of Hungarian society, but at the same time it can make the distances among social groups more rigid.

In recent years, research has brought attention to the heterogeneity of resources that first-generation students bring with them to higher education and the factors that assist in these students’ social and academic adjustment to university life. However, few studies have focused on how these students’ early socialization and experiences over the life course influence their adjustment experiences to university. Drawing on Bourdieu’s habitus concept to explore the life histories of first-generation students at a midranked Swedish university, we identify three types of adjustment profiles—Adjusters, Strangers, and Outsiders—and highlight five key factors over the life course that explain why they differ: family resources, early social environment, educational experiences and opportunities, peers, and partners. Our findings suggest that class-related adjustment challenges in college can be traced to different levels of cultural capital acquired during first-generation students’ early socialization but also to capital acquired through sustained contact with cultural capital–abundant social environments throughout their life course, resulting in subtle but consequential habitus adaptations. This study extends previous research in the field by exploring a broader set of social contexts that can spur first-generation students’ cultural capital acquisition before college and facilitate their adjustment to higher education.

Recognising the authoritative de/legitimising power of education systems, this paper contributes to studies concerned with the ways in which new entrants to higher education experience the positioning of their inherited identities as they negotiate their transition to campus life. The findings emerged during a broader psychosocial study of the transitions of seven first-generation students at a technical university in South Africa. The nature of their self-positioning was explored through an analysis of the positioning statements they articulated during photo-elicitation interviews. The university was positioned as a powerful institution, with conditions for both opportunity and alienation. Participants strongly identified with the professional community of practice in Art and Design. However, in relation to the urban campus context, the majority of participants positioned aspects of their home communities as deficit. A case is made for creating conducive conditions that enable self-reflection on students’ transitional experiences and develop collective critical consciousness.

This multiple case study examines how higher education institutions utilize controlling images to establish guidelines of family engagement, including that of first-generation families, low-income families, and/or families of color. Family engagement is limited to the extent to which it aligns with controlling images that paint families as overly involved or as uninterested, disengaged, and absent from the college experience of their children. This research contributes to our understanding of institutional responsibility when engaging diverse families. By utilizing controlling images as a framework, the article critically examines the stereotypes ascribed to families that shape their engagement experiences. Institutional, practice-based, and research implications are offered.

Straipsnyje pristatomu tyrimu atskleidžiami pažeidžiamiausių studentų, pasirinkusių kolegines studijas, paramos poreikiai. Atlikto tyrimo rezultatai parodė, kad vyresnio amžiaus, pagal ištęstinę studijų formą studijuojantiems studentams, kurie turi šeiminių ir / ar darbinių įsipareigojimų, aktualesnės akademinio studentų informavimo ir konsultavimo, užsienio kalbų ir nuotolinių studijų centro, teisinio ir psichologinio konsultavimo paslaugos. Nustatyta, kad tradicinio amžiaus, pagal nuolatinę studijų formą studijuojantiems studentams, kurie neturi darbinių ir / ar šeiminių įsipareigojimų ir pasižymi žema studijavimo motyvacija, aktualesnės karjeros projektavimo, psichologinio konsultavimo, studentų apgyvendinimo, finansinės paramos ir konsultavimo teisiniais klausimais paslaugos. This article presents the research on support needs of the most vulnerable students in nonuniversity higher education. The research results have revealed that older, part-time students who have family and/or work responsibilities focus on academic information and counselling, foreign language training, distance study centre, legal counselling and psychological counselling services. It has also been found that traditional age, full-time students who have no work and/or no family responsibilities and whose motivation to study is low require more career designing, psychological counselling, student accommodation, financial support and legal counselling services.

Using a qualitative study of distance education (DE) learners whose parents have not accessed post-secondary education (PSE), this paper proposes themes for further research in the study of first-generation students (FGS). This survey asked a number of open-ended questions about parental influences on university enrollment, and respondents’ reasons for choosing university in general and DE in particular. Findings were consistent with current research in many areas focusing on debt aversion, lower parental guidance, older starting age, and difficulty separating from familial roles. Differences were noted, including lower parental valuation of PSE and an increased emphasis on non-educational priorities, such as family and work. The limitations of the current study are discussed, as well as suggestions for future FGS research in DE.