Underrepresented students are often constructed through deficit discourses and blamed for 'lowering the bar' in higher education (Burke, P. J. 2012. "The Right to Higher Education: Beyond Widening Participation." Abingdon: Routledge). If a student struggles, then that may be seen as proof of personal deficiencies--proof of her…

First-generation college students are an underrepresented group in terms of study abroad participation nationally and at Arizona State University (ASU). The ASU and International Studies Abroad (ISA) Planning Scholars Scholarship Program was developed to support first-generation college students in their pursuit of study abroad. This mixed-methods…

First-generation college students differ in their backgrounds and experiences from other college students and are more likely to drop out of college than continuing-generation students (Ishitani & Snider, 2004; Lohfink & Paulsen, 2005). The purpose of this phenomenological case study was to describe the experiences of first-generation…

This study used a mixed-methods approach to examine the effects of the Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) program from the student perspective, specifically focusing on factors associated with student resilience. The AVID program aims to close the achievement gap among predominantly minority and low-income students without a family…