Investigating the Helpfulness of High School College Counselors in the College Choice Processes of First-Generation College Students

Presenter(s)

Sadie Neville

Abstract or Description

Since the Operation Varsity Blues scandal in 2019, more attention has been paid to the inequities facing high school college counseling (Thelin, 2019). Due to a lack of social capital, first-generation college-going students often are at the mercy of any assistance their high school college counselor can provide during the college choice process (Glass, 2022). High school college counselors have a moral responsibility to mentor students (Slicker & Palmer, 1993), especially those who are first-generation, through the three stages of Hossler and Gallagher’s college choice model (1987). Through semi-structured interviews with 15 first-generation college students at University of the Midwest, the findings of this study indicate that high school college counselors are most helpful during the predisposition and search stages of the model, and largely absent during the choice stage. Furthermore, it was determined that high school college counselors exhibited helpful behaviors during the college choice process by prioritizing open-door policies, hosting programming for students and their families, and helping students make lists of their potential colleges, with the goal of increasing the college matriculation patterns of first-generation college students.