VISTAS Online is an innovative publication produced for ACA by Dr. Garry R. Walz and Dr. Jeanne C. Bleuer of Counseling Outfitters, LLC. Its purpose is to provide a means of capturing the ideas, information and experiences generated by the annual ACA Conference and selected ACA Division Conferences. Papers on a program or practice that has been validated through research or experience may also be submitted. This digital collection of peer-reviewed articles is authored by counselors, for counselors. VISTAS Online contains the full text of over 900 proprietary counseling articles published from 2004 to 2017.
2016
Strategies for Enhancing the Transition of First-Generation Students to Post secondary Education
Jonathan R. Ricks
2016
First-generation students are disproportionately overrepresented in the most disadvantaged income, racial, and gender groups and therefore experience layers of oppression that especially influence their ability to successfully obtain admission to postsecondary education institutions. School counselors are positioned to help prospective first-generation students overcome the obstacles to college admissions. The purpose of this conceptual manuscript is to provide school counselors with a clearer picture of important characteristics of and challenges for prospective first-generation students and to suggest strategies that may improve the postsecondary education entry rates of this currently
underserved population. Using Bourdieu’s theory of social and cultural capital to define the deficits these students face, strategies to increase the level of support from educators are presented.
Keywords: first-generation college students, social capital, cultural capital, school
counselor, college access