Literature Review #3: Social Integration for First Generation Students

This book focuses on the how first-generation college students are faced with not only academic and social challenges, but also financial constraints they face. While Rubin, in my previous post, automatically assumes that first-generation students are working class students, Tinto and Engle focus on how most first generation students are challenged financially.

Dr. Jennifer Engle

Dr, Vincent Tinto

The book proposed that students are likely not only to work but also live off campus, therefore they are unable to engage socially and interact with peers. While they talk address these problems, they suggest things that could help fix the problem. They address that there is an institutional problem involved. There is also an institutional solution.

The authors of this book were Vincent Tinto and Jennifer Engle. Vincent Tinto is a distinguished sociologist at Syracuse University. His studies typically focus on social patterns and education. Jennifer Engle is Senior Program Officer at the Gates Foundation. She was also in charge of educational research the Pell Institute.

Due largely to the lack of resources low-income, first generation are more likely to live and work off-campus and to take classes part-time while working full-time, which limits the amount of time they spend on campus. (3)

Loans can increase persistence for first-generation students; however, they also found that even low levels of accumulated debt load can significantly decrease persistence among this population. This suggests that first-generation students are highly debt averse and may choose to work rather than take out loans to pay for education. (21)

It is well-established that student academic and social engagement is central to student success. It follows, however, that institutions must provide professional development for faculty and staff to... learn how to effectively use [pedagogical] skills with at-risk populations... first-generation students. (26)

The privatization of colleges is indirectly addressed when Tinto and Engle talk about loans. They also talk about how privatization has made paying for college among first generation students an individual problem. They address, however, how the problem is actually an institutional one. While it congratulates students for taking on work and load and accepting the loan challenge, it says that the institution cannot put the burden on just the individual. They say that the institution must provide networks and organizations for development and support for these students. This the only way to fix the problem among first generation college students.

Works Cited

Engle, Jennifer, and Vincent Tinto. Moving beyond access: college success for low-income, first-generation students. Washington, D.C.: Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Higher Education, 2008. Print.