First-generation Disadvantage and College Enrollment/Completion
Open accessAbstract
There are large inequalities in who enrolls in four-year collegiate programs, who finishes, and why. In this article, we draw on several waves of the Educational Longitudinal Study, explore family disadvantages, and uniquely highlight challenges first-generation students face. Family resources, cultural capital, and college-focused parental actions and their consequences for high school achievement explain most of the college attendance disadvantage. Inequalities in college completion, however, are notably also explained by disparate stressors, the need to work, and limited social/curricular integration while in college. We discuss these patterns and what they reveal about inequality and the limitations of contemporary college access.
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The lower rates of in-person communication among first-generation and racially-ethnically minoritized students are likely due at least partially to Dad's Weekend occurring during the data collection period and may reflect lower connection to university programming and/or less opportunity to travel to campus among these families.
“This is likely due at least partially to Dad's Weekend (i.e., a university-sponsored event where fathers of college students are given the opportunity to visit campus and engage in campus-led programming) occurring during the data collection period”
From Daily Communication Between First-Year College Students and Their Parents: Associations With Perceived Relationship Positivity (2024) · cites this paper as Wilbur & Roscigno, 2016
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Paying for the Party: How College Maintains Inequality
Armstrong, E. A., & Hamilton, L. T. (2013) · doi:10.4159/harvard.9780674073517 · Cited by 720 · see citing works
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Duckworth, J. C., Bumpus, M., Forsythe, K. M., Cooper, B. R., & Hill, L. G. (2024) · Emerging Adulthood · doi:10.1177/21676968241273308 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
- Authors
- Wilbur, T. G., & Roscigno, V. J.
- Affiliations
- Indiana University Bloomington (US)
- The Ohio State University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Wilbur, Tabitha G.
- ORCID
- Roscigno, Vincent J.
- Venue
- Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2016-01-01
- Volume
- 2
- ISSN
- 2378-0231 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2514939399
- Cited by
- 140
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2026: 10 · 2025: 19 · 2024: 20 · 2023: 23 · 2022: 17 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 25 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 3
- FWCI
- 25.04
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- Socius Sociological Research for a Dynamic World (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- Funders
- Ohio State University
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Education › Higher Education Research Studies
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Intergenerational and Educational Inequality Studies
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Cultural Dynamics
- Keywords
- first-generation college students, college enrollment, college completion, family disadvantage, cultural capital, parental involvement, high school achievement, work study, educational inequality, college access
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