Beyond Access: Examining Low-Income Students’ Academic and Social Transition to a Highly Selective Public University
April 5, 2018 - 3:00pm-4:30pm, Maize & Blue Auditorium, Student Activities Building
- Kristen Glasener, Doctoral Candidate in Higher Education, School of Education
- Dr. Kelly Slay, Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Maryland
- Dr. Steven Lonn, Director of Enrollment Research and Data Management, Office of Enrollment Management
- Remarks offered by Dr. Ann Hower, Director of the Office of New Student Programs
Abstract:
Low-income students remain severely underrepresented at selective colleges and universities across the United States. Over the past two decades, many selective institutions have increased efforts to improve the socioeconomic diversity of their student bodies through targeted outreach and financial aid initiatives. As such efforts gain recognition, it is important for researchers to understand the experiences of low-income students in order to help them successfully transition into and succeed in higher education.
In this presentation, we will share findings from an on-going study that examines the college experiences of low-income, high-achieving students who were offered a full tuition scholarship, known as the HAIL Scholarship, to the University of Michigan. This study aims to understand how these students transition to and navigate the academic and social environment at U-M in their first year of enrollment. Informed by culturally relevant frameworks for college success and social reproduction theory, we draw on data from 11 focus groups with 69 students to explore how low-income students’ pre-college contexts shape their perceptions and expectations of an elite college environment, and how those perceptions are reinforced or challenged once enrolled.