PREPARING STUDENTS FOR THE FUTURE
LSU sociologist examines the obstacles awaiting first-generation college students

When students begin college, they often find themselves in new and unusual surroundings and circumstances. Some of us take our parents’ stories of days spent on college campuses, in classrooms, or at university events. But not everyone comes equipped with this kind of family history. For those students who represent the first generation of their family to attend college, the experience may be entirely different. Researchers at LSU are examining the histories of these students in an attempt to discover exactly what makes secondary education so different for first- generation students.

In her research project “Boosters & Barriers to First Generation College Students’ Academic & Early Labor Market Outcomes,” LSU assistant professor of sociology Susan Dumais examines the factors that either help or hinder first-generation college students in their careers as students and in their early occupational endeavors. In this research, funded by the American Educational Research Association, Dumais uses two sets of data compiled by the National Center for Education Statistics. These data sets include information such as the employment, school work, extracurricular activies, home life, and educational resources of students within the United States.

Though many factors come into play, Dumais places a great deal of focus on four specific categories: cultural, social, human, and informational capital. Human capital refers to the general knowledge and skills of students and their parents, while social capital examines the type and quality of relationships students have with family, friends, and community. Cultural capital addresses a student’s knowledge of the arts and society’s dominant culture, such as literary references and knowledge of preferred language forms. Finally, informational capital is the kind of knowledge that could be beneficial in the pursuit of a college degree: familiarity with standardized tests, ability to understand deadlines, and completing forms properly.

“Many pre-college programs already focus on building informational capital for first-generation students; I hope this research encourages them to focus on other kinds of capital as well,” says Dumais.

While some forms of capital appear to have direct relationships to the performance of students— having larger amounts and more kinds of social capital is generally beneficial — others have more complex relationships that require the consideration of other factors like race, social class, and gender. For example, art classes taught in middle school are a form of cultural capital that typically benefits girls, but has much less of an effect on boys. Programs must be flexible and capable of being tailored to a variety of students’ needs because of these factors.

Through this kind of study, researchers are able to identify trends and propose policy interventions for both high school and college that may help to prepare first-generation college students for postsecondary education and early careers. Related policy intervention is already present in some forms through the institution of projects like Upward Bound, a federal program tailored to increase enrollment and graduation of first-generation or low-income students in postsecondary education. Hopefully, with the continuing work of researchers like Susan Dumais, more numerous and more diverse programs can be created to address the wide variety of factors impacting first-generation students and aid them as they pursue their futures.

ON THE WEB:
LSU Department of Sociology

from Summer 2006 Issue