Search

This study explores if first-generation students (i.e., students whose parents lack tertiary education) differ from second-generation students in German higher education. Using nation-wide data from the German National Educational Panel Study we compared first-and second-generation students’ psychological resources, like personality traits, and academic experiences in three selected fields of study (medicine/health sciences, teacher education, social sciences). Further, we identified factors that influence the academic achievement of students and analyzed if the influence of these predictors varies between first- and second-generation students. For this, multilevel regression und multigroup regressions were computed. Results suggest that first-generation students differ from their peers in their psychological resources, but not in their academic achievement. The extent of the differences varied notably between the psychological resources, with rather small effect sizes overall, and some variation across the academic fields. Most psychosocial resources were correlated with academic achievement. There were some differences between the predictors’ influences on academic achievement for first- and second-generation students, indicating that different resources are relevant for the academic success of the two groups. Results are discussed with regard to future directions in this field of research., Die vorliegende Studie untersucht, ob sich Studierende, deren Eltern keinen Hochschulabschluss haben von Studierenden aus akademischen Herkunftsfamilien im deutschen Hochschulwesen unterscheiden. Anhand von bundesweiten Daten des Nationalen Bildungspanels haben wir die psychologischen Ressourcen von Studierenden aus akdamischen und nicht-akademischen Herkunftsfamilien, wie z. B. Persönlichkeitsmerkmale, und Studienerfahrungen in drei ausgewählten Studienfächern (Medizin/Gesundheitswissenschaften, Lehramt, Sozialwissenschaften) verglichen. Außerdem haben wir Faktoren identifiziert, die Effekte auf die akademischen Leistungen der Studierenden zeigen, und analysiert, ob die Effekte dieser Prädiktoren zwischen den Studierendengruppen variieren. Hierfür wurden Mehrebenenregressionen und Mehrgruppenregressionen berechnet. Die Ergebnisse deuten darauf hin, dass sich Studierende aus nicht-akademischen Herkunftsfamilien in Bezug auf ihre psychologischen Ressourcen von den Studierenden akademischer Herkunftsfamilien unterscheiden, nicht jedoch in Bezug auf ihre akademischen Leistungen. Das Ausmaß der Unterschiede variierte deutlich zwischen den psychologischen Ressourcen, mit insgesamt eher geringen Effektstärken und einer gewissen Variation zwischen den akademischen Bereichen. Die meisten psychosozialen Ressourcen waren mit der akademischen Leistung korreliert. Es gab einige Unterschiede zwischen den Effekten der Prädiktoren auf die akademischen Leistungen von Studierenden der ersten und zweiten Generation, was darauf hindeutet, dass unterschiedliche Ressourcen für den akademischen Erfolg der beiden Gruppen von Bedeutung sind. Die Ergebnisse werden im Hinblick auf zukünftige Entwicklungen in diesem Forschungsbereich diskutiert.

Registration of a Scoping Review Protocol

Undermatching refers to college ready students who select and enroll in colleges with selectivity levels significantly lower than their academic profile, resulting in attending a non-competitive college, a two-year college, or foregoing applying to college altogether. The current research trend examining the topic of Undermatching focuses on studies of low-income students in aggregate, ignoring the fastest growing racial/ethnic student demographic: Latinxs. Latinx1 students, as a subgroup, undermatch at the highest rate compared to all subgroups within the demographic of low-income, first generation students. While the majority of high-performing, low-income, Latinx students Undermatch, there is a small percentage of students from this demographic who avert undermatching and in fact properly match to selective colleges. This phenomenological study explored the behaviors, practices, and experiences, of 30 Mexican-American college sophomores (15 females and 15 males) whose demographic consisted of first-generation status, low-income, immigrant parents, English Learners, who earned admission to a highly selective college. This research study draws upon several theoretical frameworks to guide understanding of the ways in which this targeted demographic has the greatest potential to undermatch including Critical Race Theory, Cultural & Social Capital Theory, and Academic Invulnerability Theory. The study explores various environmental, psychological, and institutional factors, with emphasis on digital technology resources that impacted or influenced the college choice process of this target demographic. This study contributes to our understanding of the challenges, successful practices, and interventions that influenced and impacted participant’s pathway to a selective college. The purposeful sample was comprised of students who recently graduated from public high school in Arizona, California, Nevada, and Texas. The qualitative methodology consisted of individual, semi-structured interviews, and a Qualtrics Survey.Keywords:undermatching; Latinx students; low-income students; first-generation college students; highly selective colleges; postsecondary success. 1See “Key Terms” for definition of Latinx.

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.

The economic crisis that hit Portugal in 2010, and the consequent International Monetary Fund intervention have called for austerity measures that affect the country’s welfare state and required severe cuts in higher education funding. While such cuts affect all students, first generation students from working class backgrounds raise greater concern. This research examines biographical narratives of first generation students and illuminates how their specific cultural environment, limited economic resources and unstable social support policies shape their university experience. The analysis is theoretically informed by the parity of participation conception of justice and the capabilities approach, considering vulnerability as a universal human condition that can be reduced or expanded through institutional action. It argues that despite widening participation efforts, higher education is still a formal and not a de facto opportunity for this particular group.

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.