Well-Being Consciousness and College Access Borderlands: Staff Perspectives on Supporting Students' Well-Being

There are more than 2,500 pre-college preparation and college access programs in the United States designed to increase postsecondary enrollment and degree obtainment rates for historically underrepresented college students, including low-income and Students of Color. Less known is how these programs address the social, emotional, and well-being needs of Black and Indigenous college-going students, who often enroll at Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs). Guided by Gloria Anzaldúa's Borderlands theory, this study analyzed interviews from five current and former college access program staff to uncover if and how college access programs define and implement well-being into college-going initiatives. Findings revealed varied racialized and gendered conceptions and expectations of well-being as well as competing outcome-based threats to developing a well-being consciousness. This study contributes new scholarship on the cultivation of well-being in college access spaces from the perspective of college access staff.