Effective Practices for Cultivating a Sense of Belonging for Undergraduate First-Generation Students of Color at Predominantly White Institutions in the United States
A Scoping Review
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21380947 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Deborah V Hogan (0000-0001-8686-6144, Boston College, corresponding author), Benjamin Longstreth (0009-0006-6860-4064, Harvard Business School) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Publication date | 2026-04-18 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Review of Educational Research (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0034-6543 • E-ISSN: 1935-1046 |
| Publisher | American Educational Research Association (AERA) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.3102/00346543261435626 |
| OpenAlex | W7154848723 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 61 |
First-generation college students (FGCS) represent 54% of the undergraduate population in the United States, yet they make up only one-fourth of college graduates. FGCS, particularly those from racially minoritized populations, encounter distinct challenges that can adversely affect their college experiences, sense of belonging, and successful outcomes. To close the gap between enrollment and completion for these students, faculty, staff, and administrators must understand how to create environments that actively support their success. This scoping review synthesizes the research conducted since 2000 on undergraduate FGCS of Color at four-year predominantly White institutions (PWIs), identifying effective practices that foster belonging, the guiding frameworks used in these studies, common barriers students face, and the assets they leverage to persist and succeed. The findings offer a foundation for relevant implications for practitioners and highlight critical gaps that future research must address to better support this growing student population
Affect (linguistics) · Foundation (evidence) · Leverage (statistics) · People of color · Population · White (mutation) · Career Development and Diversity · Education and Military Integration · Higher Education Research Studies
College Students' Sense of Belonging
Completing College
Updated Guidance on the Reporting of Race and Ethnicity in Medical and Science Journals
Dropouts from higher education
Validating culturally diverse students
Counseling Latino University Students
Finding My Way
Steps for Conducting a Scoping Review
The Culturally Engaging Campus Environments (Cece) Model
Studying College Access and Choice
Dropout from Higher Education
Scoping studies
The Bioecological Model of Human Development
Reconceptualizing the Model of Multiple Dimensions of Identity
Whose culture has capital? A critical race theory discussion of community cultural wealth
Associations Between Low-Household Income and First-Generation Status With College Student Belonging, Mental Health, and Well-Being
Navigating the university as nepantleras
Classism in the university setting
Latino Student Retention
Indicators of Persistence for Hispanic Undergraduate Achievement
Voces de Resistencia
Culture and community
You have to be able to adjust your own self”
What would your ideal graduate mentoring program look like
We Just Kind of Found Ourselves”
The Lived Experiences of First-Generation College Students of Color Integrating into the Institutional Culture of a Predominantly White Institution
I learned that I don’t have to change”
Working through the experiences of first-generation students of color, university mission, intersectionality, and post-subjectivity
Stories as Knowledge
College Students’ Sense of Belonging
Pertenecemos y tenemos importancia aquí! Exploring Sense of Belonging and Mattering for First-Generation and Continuing-Generation Latinx Undergraduates
The need to belong
Four domains of students' sense of belonging to university
Effects of College Transition and Perceptions of the Campus Racial Climate on Latino College Students' Sense of Belonging
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |