The revolving door of education : retaining first-generation Latinx students during the first two years at California State University East Bay

Although the United States is in the middle of an unprecedented growth of the Latinx population/community, the numbers are not translating into higher academic achievement rates, particularly in higher education. First-generation Latinx students continue to be the most underachieving ethnic group in the nation with higher dropout rates than their non-Latinx counterparts. An inability to improve these academic retention and graduation statistics will perpetuate current societal inequities and prevent this growing social group from bettering their socioeconomic position by furthering their education. In order to offset the lack of prior exposure to higher education for this community, a more intentional approach is needed for Latinx youth that focuses on expanding access, improving college preparation, and providing support during the critical first two years of college. Moreover, the strong cultural and historical experiences of Latinx youth must be leveraged to provide this group with the best opportunities for greater academic success. While identifying the contributing factors within the educational pathway has been vastly studied, less focus has been placed on understanding the resources needed by Latinx youth and how these resources may contribute to improved academic success during the first two years of college. Understanding the direct insights that can be provided by students as they matriculate through their first years of college is critical to improving retention and graduation results for first-generation Latinx youth. Therefore, I conducted an interview study of California State University East Bay (CSUEB) first-generation Latinx students who completed their first year of college. The frameworks of Critical Race Theory and Social Capital provided the lens through which to analyze resulting data with a goal of making recommendations for improving retention rates for CSUEB first-generation Latinx students, particularly during the first two years of their college experience.