A Critically Conscious Approach to Fostering the Success of College Students from Underrepresented Groups

Over the past decade, many student affairs professionals have turned their attention to non-cognitive factors that can play a role in supporting students from underrepresented groups in making it to and through college. The work in this area that has gotten the most attention in recent years has focused on students’ sense of belonging and efficacy. In this article, the authors begin by acknowledging the numerous strengths of belonging-centered and efficacy-centered approaches to fostering college student success but also argue that these approaches are incomplete. They posit that a more critically conscious approach to fostering college-going success can deepen participating college students’ sense of purpose and, in so doing, increase their likelihood of successful college completion. Earning a college degree is predictive not only of significantly higher lifetime earnings (Carnvevale, Rose, & Cheah, 2011) and greater economic mobility (Ridgeway & Fisk, 2012) but also of better health and greater life satisfaction (Savitz-Romer & Bouffard, 2012). Moreover, the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce predicted that by 2018, nearly two thirds of all jobs in the United States will require a postsecondary degree (Carnevale et al., 2011). Yet there remain persistent opportunity gaps along racial and socioeconomic lines in terms of who is entering and completing college. For example, a 2008 study found that 90% of Asian students and 71% of White students enrolled in college immediately after high school, in comparison to only 63% of African American and 62% of Latino students (Savitz-Romer & Bouffard, 2012). Other scholars have found that college completion rates have soared over the past two decades for high-income students but have stagnated for low-income students (Bailey & Dynarski, 2011). Finally, being a first-generation college student (i.e. a student whose parents do not have postsecondary Scott Seider ([email protected]) is associate professor of education at Boston University and the author of Shelter: Where Harvard Meets the Homeless. Shelby Clark ([email protected]) is an advanced doctoral student at Boston University, where her work focuses on the development of curiosity and other intellectual character strengths in adolescents and young adults. Madora Soutter ([email protected]) is an advanced doctoral student at Boston University, where her work focuses on civic character development in youth and adolescents. Opinions and Perspectives 253 Journal of College & Character VOLUME 16, No. 4, November 2015 JCC © NASPA 2015 http://journals.naspa.org/jcc doi:10.1080/2194587X.2015.1091362 D ow nl oa de d by [ Sc ot t S ei de r] a t 0 6: 03 2 4 N ov em be r 20 15 degrees) is predictive of lower grades and a higher likelihood of dropping out than students with at least one parent who is a college graduate (Pascarella, Pierson, Wolniak, & Terenzini, 2004). Over the past several decades, many student affairs professionals and research psychologists have turned their attention to the question of how best to support students from these underrepresented groups in making it to and through college. Certainly appropriate advising and academic supports play a leading role in these efforts, but educators have also begun to consider and account for non-cognitive factors that foster (or inhibit) students’ success in college. Perhaps the work in this area that has gotten the most attention in recent years has focused on students’ sense of belonging and efficacy. In this article, we begin by acknowledging the numerous strengths of belonging-centered and efficacy-centered approaches to fostering college student success but also argue that these approaches are incomplete. We posit that a more critically conscious approach to fostering college-going success can deepen participating college students’ sense of purpose and, in so doing, increase their likelihood of successful college completion.