As first-generation college students continue to make up sizable populations on college campuses (RTI International, 2021a), a better understanding of their unique experiences is needed. As research has shown the effectiveness of internship experiences on post-college outcomes (Blau et al., 2021), first-generation college students may have the…

Institutions of higher education are under increased scrutiny as graduation rates decline while student loan debt soars. One proposed strategy to improve completion rates is to give additional support to those students who are most at-risk of leaving college before graduating. Research has shown that first-generation students are more likely to…

The evolution of the role of higher education institutions (HEIs) from knowledge generation to societal transformation has heightened the focus on how internship programs serve diverse student populations (Altbach et al., 2019). In Sub-Saharan Africa, there has been a notable trend toward incorporating structured and mandated internship programs…

Internships and practicums are a required component of nearly all degree programs in human services and its subfields--and most are unpaid. These unpaid positions often have a disproportionate impact for BIPOC and first-generation students, especially women--many of whom are economically disadvantaged and must work to support themselves and…

Undergraduate science majors entering their final (senior) year face a critical decision: whether to pursue post-baccalaureate degrees and continue on the path to careers in biomedical, medical or public health fields. Large disparities in socioeconomic factors contribute to the high rate of attrition of under-represented minority (URM) students…

Access to higher education has increased within the last decades, particularly within historically underserved communities, but the challenges of navigating college for first-generation Latino/a/x students still show up in the disproportionate rates of retention, persistence, and graduation for this group (National Center for Education Statistics,…

Over the past four years, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Inclusive Excellence grant supported Delaware State University (DSU) to increase student success and foster faculty development in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) fields. One component of this grant has provided students, particularly early sequence…

Since the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) introduced high-impact practices (HIPs) in 2007, scholars have argued that students' involvement in these programs is associated with a range of positive outcomes. Namely, participation in HIPs is thought to promote student retention and help close achievement gaps between…

The California Community College System is an entry point for the majority of first-generation college students. This case study of a community college in Southern California examined the experiences and motivations of both Latinx students in their major/career decision-making process and the community college counseling faculty who serve, educate…

Research shows that enriching learning experiences such as learning communities, service-learning, undergraduate research, internships, and senior culminating experiences -- collectively known as High-Impact Practices (HIPs) -- are positively associated with student engagement; deep, and integrated learning; and personal and educational gains for…