The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between participation in a retention program designed to promote academic and social integration and the persistence rates of first generation, low-income college students at an urban, public multiethnic university. Archival data were collected from the university’s Office of Institutional Research and the retention program office and included SAT/ACT scores, GPA, gender, ethnicity, and program participation data. A total of 292 first-generation, low-income students who were admitted to the university in the summer of 1999 were identified for the study. A group of 166 students were selected for the comparison group because they had not participated in the retention program; 126 students had participated in the retention program. Three major research questions guided this study: (a) Are there differences in persistence rates and other academic characteristics of underprepared, low-income, first generation college students who participate and do not participate in the retention program?; (b) Does involvement in the retention program predict student persistence of first generation low-income, underprepared students?, and (c) Can predictors of GPA be identified for students in the retention program using program and descriptive variables? A series of logistic regression analyses were conducted to assess the relationship between various retention services and the persistence and graduation rates of participants. The results showed that there were statistically significant relationships between participation and non-participation in the retention program and having higher GPAs and higher graduation and persistence rates. Of the four program features, participation in tutoring, workshops, and social events were found to be predictors of graduation. College GPA was also found to be a predictor of graduation for all students. The results also showed that women were more likely to graduate than men.

First generation and low income college students continue to experience outcome differences despite higher education’s efforts to reduce inequality. Despite abundant research exploring intelligence mindset, there have been few attempts to explore relationships between mindset and scarcity. To reduce this gap in knowledge, and support student success, this study explored relationships between scarcity and beliefs about intelligence – including the intelligence mindset of students and the failure mindset of parents – as well as the connection between scarcity and student demographics. Survey research design was used, and participants were gathered using a census of undergraduate students of a Midwest university in spring 2020 (N = 9,760). Results indicate scarcity continues to be of vital importance to the discussion about inequity in higher education, as found in the direct relationships between perceived scarcity and student demographics, and the indirect relationship of perceived scarcity with intelligence mindset through perceived failure mindset of parents.

No description available.

Immigrant businesses represent a very large percentage of SMEs in Canada. Significant attention has been given to the phenomenon of immigrant entrepreneurship and their economic contribution to developed countries. However, little is known about the social contributions of these immigrant entrepreneurs to the host country. While the values of immigrant entrepreneurs are rooted in their home culture, they continue to evolve their beliefs and values to integrate into the host country. Emerging literature also affirms that the behaviour of second generation is different from the first generation immigrants. It is known that immigrants’ small business social responsibility (SBSR) is influenced by their home context, but how the host country context influences the SBSR behaviour of different generations is rarely explored. The objective of this study is to understand how society and culture integrate to shape immigrant social responsibility behavior and contributions, with focus on comparing first and second generation. Drawing from mixed embeddedness approach and culture values lens, I theorize about the influence of home country culture and host country context on immigrants SBSR behaviour and the potential consequences of differences in embeddedness on their contributions to the host country. Drawing on 20 detailed semi-structured interviews, I find that irrespective of the differences in generation, immigrants SBSR contributions are influenced by their home culture, their network composition, and the extent to which they are embedded in the host county. At the theoretical level, the mixed embeddedness approach has been augmented by applying it in the field of SBSR. In addition, the study fills a gap by introducing second generation immigrant entrepreneurs’ in SBSR context.

This study examined the relationships between first generation college students’ grade point averages and social and academic integration in community colleges. The Institutional Integration Scale was used to measure relationships between grade point averages and social integration and academic integration among first generation college students. A demographic informational questionnaire was used to collect data related to students’ gender, age, ethnicity, degree program, enrollment status and martial status. This study was conducted at Coahoma Community College located in Clarksdale, Mississippi. The study was a quantitative study that consisted of 139 students enrolled during the fall semester at Coahoma Community College. The data were analyzed statistically focusing on the social and academic integration among first generation students and their grade point averages. The analysis revealed no relationship existed between grade point averages and social and academic integration scores. However, the study revealed significant correlations were found to exist between grade point averages and credit hour enrollment, total credits, family income and study time.

The purpose of the current study was to determine if participation in a TRIO program at the community college would lead to academic success for transfer students at the 4-year university. Specifically, the researcher collected data for students who participated in a TRIO program at a community college from 2010-2020 to see if they had higher rates of graduation, higher rates of enrollment and completion, and higher GPAs as compared to similar students who were not involved in TRIO at a community college. The independent variables were TRIO participation, gender, first-generation status, Pell status, transfer GPA, and transfer credit hours earned. A total of 2193 transfer students from two community colleges in the southeastern region of the United States were included in this study. There were 77 transfer students who were involved in a TRIO program at a community college and 2116 transfer students who were not involved in a TRIO program. There were 8 students who were involved in a TRIO program at both institutions. A binary logistic regression was run to determine how TRIO participation affected graduation, enrollment and completion, and GPA for transfer students at the 4-year university. Transfer TRIO participation, gender, and Pell status were not significant predictors of graduation. First-generation status, although research has shown that continuing-generation students graduate at higher rates than first-generation students, was significant in terms of graduation for transfer students. Transfer GPA, and transfer credit hours earned were also found to be significant predictors of graduation for transfer students at the 4-year university. Transfer TRIO participation and Pell status were not significant predictors of enrollment and completion. Gender, in terms of females when compared to males, was a significant factor for whether a student was still enrolled or completed their degree. First-generation status, transfer GPA, and transfer credit hours earned were also significant predictors of enrollment and completion. Transfer TRIO participation, gender, Pell status, and first-generation status were found to be significant for GPA.

This study explored the activities in which first-generation students engage that might promote academic and social integration. Additionally, differences in activities by race were examined. Participants included fifteen Caucasian and fifteen Multicultural first-generation, first-year students. Respondents maintained logs of their daily academic and social activities for a two-week period during their first semester on campus. The logs yielded both quantitative and qualitative data. The results revealed several interesting findings. First, first-generation students engaged in a number of academic behaviors that often contribute to academic integration and success. Although they were not always confident in their abilities as a student, first-generation participants attended most of their classes, completed assignments, participated in class discussions, and visited their professors to seek assistance. Second, although informants seemed to devote more time to academic pursuits, they did take time to enjoy conversations and activities with peers and attend meetings and events on campus. Third, Caucasian and Multicultural first-generation students were nearly equally involved in academic pursuits. However, Caucasian students focused on developing personal relationships with those who support their success, while Multicultural students focused more on results and achievement. Fourth, both Caucasian and Multicultural students found ways to be involved socially on campus, but Caucasian students were more comfortable describing their time spent out of the classroom. In general, the students in this study were not as much at risk as results from prior research on first generation students has suggested they might be. In their first semester, they found ways to participate successfully in the academic and social environments of college. / Master of Arts

In this study, we conducted a qualitative exploration of the lived-experiences of underemployed First-Generation College Graduates (FGCG). The purpose of the study was to expand and promote a thoughtful discourse about a more inclusive and domain-sensitive approach to counseling underemployed first-generation college graduates. Participants’ consisted of seven underemployed first-generation college graduates in a small Midwestern city. Participants’ ages ranged from 22 to 30 years old (M= 27.8, SD=2.7). Of the participants, all were Caucasian (5 female, 2 male) and had graduated within the past six years. Using Consensual Qualitative Research (CQR; Hill et al., 2005; Hill, 2012), we conducted seven 60-minute semi-structured individual interviews. Five domains emerged from analysis of the results: (1) Messages concerning the college to work connection, (2) lived-experience of underemployment, (3) perceived barriers to adequate employment, (4) resources and coping strategies, (5) future outlook. Within these domains 10 categories and 29 subcategories emerged. A detailed summary of these results and implications will be provided.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Ohio University, June, 2008. / Title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Michigan State University. Dept. of Educational Administration, 2008. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on Aug. 20, 2009) Includes bibliographical references (p. 173-183). Also issued in print.