Family support for First-Year students during the transition to University

Abstract

: Widening access and participation in higher education institutions opened access to a more diverse student population from varying upbringings and educational proficiencies. The majority of students gaining from widening access are either from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds, the first in their family to attend university, or both. The transition from high school to university is perceived as stressful for first-year first-generation students, and first-year students from disadvantaged backgrounds are generally perceived to be lacking with regard to their levels of preparedness and awareness of the university, financial support, and expectations for their courses. The scenario described above highlights the urgent need to increase focus on family support to first-year students from disadvantaged backgrounds. This study aims to explore the role of family support in enabling or constraining first-year first-generation students from disadvantaged backgrounds as they transition from high school to university using both Bourdieu and Tinto as the theoretical framework to address a gap in the literature. The study adopted the qualitative phenomenological interpretive approach to explore the role of family support in enabling or constraining the transition of first-year first-generation students from disadvantaged backgrounds into university. Data was collected through focus group discussions with fifty first-year students. The findings of this study revealed that students’ family support or lack thereof does not deter students from transitioning into university. This study highlights the resilience and agency that first-generation students from disadvantaged backgrounds bring with them to the university as the key principles that universities should consider.