Identifying Gaps in the First-Generation Pipeline: A Study of Gaps in College Expectations, Access and Completion by First-Generation Status

Open Access
- Author:
- Umbricht, Mark Richard
- Graduate Program:
- Higher Education
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- July 02, 2018
- Committee Members:
- John Jesse Cheslock, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
John Jesse Cheslock, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Karly Sarita Ford, Committee Member
Kelly Ochs Rosinger, Committee Member
Aleksandra B Slavkovic, Outside Member - Keywords:
- First-generation
Higher Education
Access
Completion - Abstract:
- Previous research has shown that first-generation students are less likely to make it through the postsecondary pipeline compared to their peers with higher levels of parental education. This is problematic for first-generation students because it perpetuates a cycle of intergenerational poverty due to low education, and problematic to the United States as it tries to increase the number of adults with a postsecondary credential. While it is well known that first-generation students are less likely to make it through the postsecondary pipeline, research has not examined where in the pipeline we lose these students. This dissertation will examine gaps in the postsecondary pipeline and educational expectations by first-generation status using data from the Educational Longitudinal Study of 2002 and the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009. Using logistic regression and sequential logit methods, this study will examine how gaps by first-generation status change with the addition of control variables and interactions, and whether these gaps change over time. Findings are split into two sections, the first analyzing specific steps in the postsecondary pipeline using logistic regression methods, and the second analyzing the pipeline as a whole using a sequential logit model. Findings from models examining specific stages within the postsecondary pipeline indicate that with a simple regression first-generation status is negatively correlated with all stages of the postsecondary pipeline and the formation of high educational expectations. After controlling for many factors, the negative association for first-generation status only remained for high expectations and application to college in both samples, and college attendance in the later sample. This indicates that first-generation students are mainly lost prior to college entrance and could imply that first-generation status is not as important once students are in college, or it could mean that first-generation students that make it to college are somehow different from their peers. This study found no evidence that the first-generation gap has changed between the two samples despite rising costs and stagnant financial aid. Findings from a sequential logit model also indicates that level of parental education is tied to a student’s overall level of education, carrying more weight in earlier transitions. Parental education carries less weight in transitions to earn a bachelor’s degree or master’s degree because fewer students are at risk of the transition and smaller gains are made in overall level of education as a result of passing the later transitions.