Using the Cultural Wealth Framework to Examine How Institutional Conditions Impact Minoritized First-Generation College Students’ Success and Life Outcomes

ABSTRACT

In this study, the author examines how minoritized first-generation college students’ participation in a recruitment and retention program at a small, rural, predominantly White college impacted their success. Several factors affecting their lived experiences are highlighted, including peer influences, institutional conditions, and the sociopolitical climate. Focus groups provide qualitative insight into how participants cultivated community cultural assets during challenging circumstances to persist and graduate. Their post-graduation lives are explored, and the significance of their experiences is shown in relation to their career and life outcomes.

KEYWORDS:

• Campus climate
• first-generation college student
• identity: African American
• identity: Latinx
• outcomes
• persistence
• predominately white institutions (PWIs)
• community cultural wealth

Acknowledgements

Special recognition and appreciation to Shanely Marmolejos, MSW, for her support, recruitment efforts, and assistance with focus groups.

Disclosure statement

The author declares no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Additional information

Funding

This work is supported by the Professional Staff Congress-City University of New York (PSC-CUNY) Research Award Program grant #62193-0050. The Professional Staff Congress-City University of New York (PSC-CUNY) grant program is an internal small grant program maintained by the Research Foundation of the City University of New York.