Retaining First-Generation College Students in STEM programs: A Qualitative Analysis

Ada Rosemary Uche

doi:10.29333/ajqr/18006

Ada Rosemary Uche ¹ ^*

More Detail

AM J QUALITATIVE RES, Volume 10, Issue 2, pp. 95-114

https://doi.org/10.29333/ajqr/18006

OPEN ACCESS 60 Views 29 Downloads

Download Full Text (PDF)

Abstract

This study employs a qualitative approach to help examine the factors that influence first generation college students in their path to attaining a STEM degree. The qualitative analysis involved a sample of 40 North Carolina first-generation college seniors preparing to graduate with STEM degrees. Other national studies have used quantitative data only, which creates a notable gap in the literature and begs the need for more robust analysis. In this study, we argue that background attributes, pre-college experiences, institutional characteristics, as well as social and academic integration influence the performance of first-generation college students in STEM. The qualitative findings suggest the vital role that pre-college influences play for first generation college students in STEM, when compared to their non-first-generation peers.

Keywords: First-generation college students, STEM, disparity, qualitative methods

References

Armstrong, E. A., & Hamilton, L. T. (2013). Paying for the Party. Harvard University Press.
Atherton, M. (2014). Academic Preparedness of First-Generation College Students: Different Perspectives. Journal of College Student Development, 55(8), 824-829.
Banks-Santilli, L. (2014). First-generation College Students and their Pursuit of the American dream. Journal of Case Studies in Education, 5.
Benson, J.E., & Lee, L.M. (2020). Geographies of Campus Inequality: Mapping the Diverse Experiences of First-Generation Students. Oxford University Press.
Berg, A. (2020). For first-generation students, a disappearing ‘college experience’ could have grave consequences. The Chronicle of Higher Education.
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006) Using Thematic Analysis in Psychology; Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77-101.
Cataldi, E.F., Bennett, C.T., & Chen, X. (2018). First-Generation Students College Access, Persistence, and Postbachelor’s Outcomes. National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)
Capriccioso, R. (2006). Aiding First-generation Students. Inside Higher Education. insidehighered.com
Carnevale, A. P., & Fry, R. A. (2000). Crossing the great divide: Can we achieve equity when generation Y goes to college? Educational Testing Service.
Carnevale, A., Smith, N., & Melton, M. (2011). STEM: Science Technology Engineering Mathematics. Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce.
CEOSE Report (2012). Committee on Equal Opportunities in Science and Engineering. National Science Foundation (NSF), Washington DC.
Chen, X. (2005). First-Generation Students in Postsecondary Education: A Look at their College Transcripts. National Center for Education Statistics.
Choy, S. (2001). Students Who’s Parents Did Not Go to College: Postsecondary Access, Persistence, and Attainment. National Center for Education Statistics.
Cohen, C., & Deterding, N. (2009). Widening the net: National estimates of gender disparities in engineering. Journal of Engineering Education, 98(3), 211-226
Creswell, J.W., Hanson, W.E., Clark, V.L.P. & Morales, A. (2007). Qualitative research designs selection and implementation. The Counseling Psychologist, 35(2), 236-264
Crisp, G., Nora, A., & Taggart, A. (2009). Student Characteristics, Pre-college, College, and Environmental Factors as Predictors of Majoring in and Earning a STEM degree: An Analysis of Students Attending a Hispanic Serving Institution. American Educational Research Journal, 46(4), 924-942.
DeReamer, S., & Safai, N. (2004). Promoting science and engineering in grades K-12 by means of a summer workshop a universal model. ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition: Engineering Education Reaches New Heights. Exposition, Session 1460.
Dika, S. L., & D’Amico, M. M. (2015). Early experiences and integration in the persistence of first-generation college students in STEM and non-STEM majors. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 53(3), 368-383.
Engle, J. (2007). Postsecondary access and success for first-generation college students: American Academic, 3(1), 25-48.
Engle, J., & Tinto, V. (2008). Moving beyond access: College success for low-income, first-generation students. Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Higher Education. Retrieved from http://www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/ED504448.pdf.
Grawe, N.D. (2018). Demographics and the Demand for Higher Education. Johns Hopkins University Press.
Gibbs, G. (2007). Analyzing qualitative data. Sage.
Goldin, C., & Katz, L. (2009). The race between education and technology. Harvard University Press.
Guyer, K. (2013). An Examination of First-to Second-year Persistence of First-generation College Students. ProQuest, UMI Dissertations Publishing.
Hacker, J.S., Mettler, S. Pinderhughes, D. (2005) Inequality and public policy. In L.R. Jacobs & T. Skocpol (Eds) Inequality and American democracy: What we know and what we need to learn (pp. 156-213). Russell Sage Foundation
Harackiewicz, J. Canning, E. Tibbetts, Y., Giffen, C. Blair, S. Rouse, D., & Hyde, J. (2014). Closing the social class achievement gap for first-generation students in undergraduate biology. Journal of Educational Psychology, 106(2), 375.
Harper, S. & Quaye, S. (2010). Student engagement in higher education: Theoretical perspectives and practical approaches for diverse populations. Routledge.
Hicks, T. (2003). First-generation and non-first-generation pre-college students’ expectations and perceptions about attending college. Journal of College Orientation and Transition, 11(1), 5-19.
Housel, T. & Harvey, V. (2009). The invisibility factor: Administrators and faculty reach out to first-generation college students. Brown Walker Press.
Hoyer, L. (2011) First-generation College Students: A Comparison of Graduates and Dropouts. Doctoral Dissertation, University of Texas at Arlington.
Hurtado, S., Chang, J., Sáenz, V., Espinosa, L., Cabrera, N., & Cerna, O. (2007). Predicting transition and adjustment to college: Minority biomedical and behavioral science students’ first year of college. Research in Higher Education, 48(7), 841-887.
Ishitani, T. (2006). Studying attrition and degree completion behavior among first-generation college students in the United States. Journal of Higher Education, 861-885.
Jack, A.A. (2014). Culture Shock Revisited: The Social and Cultural Contingencies to Class Marginality. Sociological Forum, 29(2), 453–475. doi: 10.1111/socf.12092.
Jehangir, R. (2010). Stories as knowledge: Bringing the lived experience of first-generation college students into the academy. Urban Education, 45(4), 533-553.
Johnson, S., Richeson, J., & Finkel, E. (2011). Middle class and marginal? Socio-economic status, stigma, and self-regulation at an elite university: Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 100, 838–852.
Kuh, G. (2001). The National Survey of Student Engagement: Conceptual framework and overview of psychometric properties. Indiana University Center for Postsecondary Research, 1-26.
Lam, P., Srivatsan, T., Doverspike, D., Vesalo, J., & Mawasha, P. (2005). A ten-year assessment of the pre-engineering program for underrepresented, low income and/or first-generation college students at the university of Akron Journal of STEM Education, 6(3-4), 14-20.
Lee, E. (2016). Class and Campus Life: Managing and Experiencing Inequality at an Elite College. Cornell University Press
Lohfink, M., & Paulsen, M. (2005). Comparing the determinants of persistence for first-generation and continuing-generation students. Journal of College Student Development, 46(4), 409-428.
Lowery, G. (2010, April). Tougher grading is one reason for high STEM dropout rate. Chronicle Online. Retrieved from https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2010/04/tougher-grading-one-reason-high-stem-dropout-rate
Mau, W. J. (2016). Characteristics of US students that pursued a STEM major and factors that predicted their persistence in degree completion. Universal Journal of Educational Research, 4(6), 1495-1500.
Murphy, C., & Hicks, T. (2006). Academic Characteristics among First-generation and Non-first-generation College Students. College Quarterly, 9 (2), n2.
National Science Board (2012): Science and Engineering Indicators 2012. National Science Foundation.
Ong, M., Wright, C., Espinosa, L., & Orfield, G. (2011). Inside the double bind: A synthesis of empirical research on undergraduate and graduate women of color in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Harvard Educational Review, 81(2), 172-209.
Ostrove, J., & Long, S. (2007). Social class and belonging: Implications for college adjustment. The Review of Higher Education, 30, 363–389.
Pascarella, E., Pierson, C., Wolniak, G., & Terenzini, P. (2004). First-generation college students: Additional evidence on college experiences and outcomes. Journal of Higher Education, 249-284.
Pascarella, E & Terenzini, P. (2005). How college affects students (2). K. A. Feldman (Ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Pike, G. Kuh, G. (2005). First-and second-generation college students: A comparison of their engagement and intellectual development. Journal of Higher Education, 276-300.
Rondini, A.C. (2016). Healing the hidden injuries of class? Redemption narratives, aspirational proxies, and parents of low-income, first-generation college students. Sociological Forum, 31(1), 96-116.
Saenz, V., Hurtado, S., Barrera, D., Wolf, D., & Yeung, F. (2007) First in my family: A profile of first-generation college students at four-year institutions since 1971. Cooperative Institutional Research Program of the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA.
Soria, K. & Stebleton, M. (2012). First-generation Students' Academic Engagement and Retention. Teaching in Higher Education, 17(6), 673-685.
Stearns, E., Mickelson, R., Dancy, S., & Moller, S. (2010). The Roots of STEM project. University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
Stephens, N., Fryberg, S., Markus, H., Johnson, C., & Covarrubias, R. (2012) Unseen disadvantage: how American universities' focus on independence undermines the academic performance of first-generation college students. Journal of personality and social psychology, 102(6), 1178.
Strayhorn, T. (2009). Work in progress: Academic and social barriers to Black and Latino male collegians in engineering. ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference. San Antonio, TX.
Tinto, V. (1993). Leaving College: Rethinking the Causes and Cures of Student Attrition, (2nd ed.). The University of Chicago Press.
Tinto, V. (2007). Taking student retention seriously. Syracuse University.
Tinto, V. (2012). Completing college: Rethinking institutional action. University of Chicago Press.
Tyson, K. (2011). Integration interrupted: Tracking, Black students, and acting White after Brown. Oxford University Press.
Van Noy, M.J., & Ruder, A. (2017). The influence of labor market outcomes data on major choice: Evidence from a survey experiment. Economics of Education Review, 57, 80–90.
Wilbur, T. G., & Roscigno, V. J. (2016). First-generation disadvantage and college enrollment/completion. Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World, 2, 2378023116664351
Wilbur, T.G. (2021). Stressed but not depressed: A longitudinal analysis of first-generation college students, stress and depressive symptoms. Social Forces, 100(1), 56–85. doi: 10.1093/sf/ soaa091.
Wildhagen, T. (2022). The hidden curriculum; first generation students at legacy universities: By Rachel Gable. Pp 264. Princeton: Princeton University Press. 2021
Wright, A. L., Roscigno, V. J., & Quadlin, N. (2023). First-generation students, college majors, and gendered pathways. The Sociological Quarterly, 64(1), 67-90

Citation

Uche, A. R. (2026). Retaining First-Generation College Students in STEM programs: A Qualitative Analysis. American Journal of Qualitative Research, 10(2), 95-114. https://doi.org/10.29333/ajqr/18006

Uche, A. R. (2026). Retaining First-Generation College Students in STEM programs: A Qualitative Analysis. American Journal of Qualitative Research, 10(2), pp. 95-114. https://doi.org/10.29333/ajqr/18006

Uche AR. Retaining First-Generation College Students in STEM programs: A Qualitative Analysis. AM J QUALITATIVE RES. 2026;10(2), 95-114. https://doi.org/10.29333/ajqr/18006

Uche, Ada Rosemary. "Retaining First-Generation College Students in STEM programs: A Qualitative Analysis". American Journal of Qualitative Research 2026 10 no. 2 (2026): 95-114. https://doi.org/10.29333/ajqr/18006

Uche, Ada Rosemary "Retaining First-Generation College Students in STEM programs: A Qualitative Analysis". American Journal of Qualitative Research, vol. 10, no. 2, 2026, pp. 95-114. https://doi.org/10.29333/ajqr/18006

Uche AR. Retaining First-Generation College Students in STEM programs: A Qualitative Analysis. AM J QUALITATIVE RES. 2026;10(2):95-114. https://doi.org/10.29333/ajqr/18006