“It’s More Us Helping Them Instead of Them Helping Us”: How Class Disadvantage Motivates Asian American College Students to Help Their Parents

While considerable attention has been given to the ways that parents contribute to undergraduates’ success, far less attention has been given to what these students do for their families, variation in students’ provision of help, or the consequences of giving. Drawing on 61 interviews with Asian American college students from diverse ethnic and class backgrounds, this paper extends conventional understanding of families and college by analyzing the financial assistance and translation support Asian American undergraduates give their parents. Using a trichotomous model of class—comparing disadvantaged, advantaged, and ambiguous students—I show that class disadvantage motivated students’ helping, advantage deterred it, while the ambiguous fell in between. Culture (i.e., filial piety) and a broad view of family (i.e., siblings’ contributions) also influenced students’ help. Finally, based on interview data combined with partial support from analysis of participants' grade point averages data, I demonstrate that helping had positive and negative implications for students’ college experience.

Reimagining Higher Education as Response to Ongoing Crises

College students and professors have experienced dramatic change in how they are able to attend and participate in classes, convey information, interact with one another, and teach in a meaningful, dynamic way. This chapter explores what worked and what did not work during this shift to online teaching as universities in the United States closed down for almost all in-person classes. Research includes narrative identity, with data derived from collecting stories of the lived experience during COVID-19. Topics explored are issues of how higher education relates to the traditional U.S. college experience, ethics, leadership, money, equitable technology, and mental health. Suggestions will be presented in terms of what can be learned from this particular crisis that can be enacted in framing better practices in higher education as future domestic and global crises emerge.

A Model Rural Inclusive Postsecondary Program for Students With Intellectual Disability

Lions Connected (LC) is an inclusive postsecondary program approved by the U.S. Department of Education; thus meeting rigorous program standards and accountability. Equally important is that it gives eligible students from rural areas the opportunity to receive federal financial aid to attend college. The purpose of developing LC was to meet the needs and desires of the surrounding rural communities by providing postsecondary opportunities for students with intellectual disability (ID) to enhance their social, academic, and employment skills alongside peers without disabilities. This article describes the program in detail as well as program outcomes, including employment in rural home communities. LC students receive a true college experience while preparing to become contributing members in society regardless of where they live. By following LC’s program structure, there are multiple opportunities for supporting students with ID in rural settings and helping them garner a college experience and become successfully employed in their community and reach their full potential.

Friendships Through Inclusive Postsecondary Education Programs: Perspectives of Current and Former Students With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

The formation of friendships is central to the college experience. Yet little is known about the relationships young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities form through their inclusive postsecondary education programs or maintain after graduation. We interviewed 12 current students and alumni about their social networks and their views regarding friendships. Participants shared their perspectives on the multiple meaning of friendship, the size and composition of their social networks, and the areas in which college has positively impacted their social lives. We offer recommendations for research and practice aimed at understanding and enhancing friendship formation within the inclusive higher education movement.

Academic Stress and Spiritual Well-Being in Riau

The purpose of this study was to develop a profile of spiritual well-being and academic stress among students in high schools and universities and determine whether there is a relationship between academic stress and spiritual well-being among students in the Indragiri Hulu district of the province of Riau, Indonesia. The quantitative technique is used in this investigation. It was decided to employ a survey design for this investigation. 105 students were chosen to participate in the survey, with an 81 per cent response rate (n = 85). Academic stress was reported by 82 per cent of those who answered the survey questions (70 people). Additionally, according to the findings of this study, women suffer more stress than males, and students in college experience more stress than students in high school. Academic stress, on the other hand, is not significantly associated with gender or educational level. In contrast, the spiritual well-being of students is associated with just a slight link with the academic stress experienced by students.

Experiences With General Education: How Sense of Community Shapes Students’ Perceptions

General education (GE) classes are designed to reflect the mission and goals of the university and to help students become more well-rounded, career-ready, and civically-minded post-graduation. Students’ perceptions of these courses have a significant influence on their capacity to succeed, and ultimately to get the most out of their college experience. Using results from an email questionnaire sent to students at a private university in the western United States, we analyze the relationships between perceptions of the GE experience, sense of community, and academic year, and we find that sense of community is positively associated with perceptions of GEs. These results also show freshmen having a higher sense of community than juniors or seniors, and that scholastic class in school is negatively associated with satisfaction with GEs. Furthermore, we find that seniors generally have a lower perception of the importance of GEs in their lives when compared to freshmen.

Cultural Competency Activities

This study examines the impact of a cultural center on students’ views and perceptions of their own cultural competency learning and ability to manage their college experience at a large metropolitan university. This exploratory analysis highlights the views of ten students who frequently engaged with a cultural center. Emerging themes include: (a) how students at a metropolitan university defined cultural competence; (b) challenges, difficulties, and problems participants experienced interacting with people from other cultures (e.g. nationality, ethnicity); and (c) successful interactions participants experienced with people from other cultures. Findings and discussion from this study suggest: (a) identity, exposure, and critical awareness; (b) navigating and negotiating conflict; and (c) engaging cultural resources are the skills students develop, through experiences with a cultural center, that impact their ability to manage their college experience. This project studied a culturally mixed group of students using personal experiences, interviews, and focus group discussions to describe meaningful and defining moments. This study and its findings are noteworthy because there is little research in this subject area. All participants were frank, cooperative, and candid throughout the process. They offered insights and shared information regarding cultural competency at Metropolitan University (MU).

Providing a Safe, In-Person, Residential College Experience During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, higher education institutions were forced to make difficult decisions regarding the 2020–2021 academic year. Many institutions decided to have courses in an online remote format, others decided to attempt an in-person experience, while still others took a hybrid approach. Hope College (Holland, MI) decided that an in-person semester would be safer and more equitable for students. To achieve this at a residential college required broad collaboration across multiple stakeholders. Here, we share lessons learned and detail Hope College's model, including wastewater surveillance, comprehensive testing, contact tracing, and isolation procedures that allowed us to deliver on our commitment of an in-person, residential college experience.

Who identifies as “Latinx”? An examination of the determinants of the use of Latinx among Hispanic-Latinos in the United States

“Latinx”—a gender neutral variation of “Latino/a”—is increasingly used to describe the Latin American diaspora. Despite expanded use of the term, the 2019 National Survey of Latinos found that just 3% of Hispanic-Latinos have ever used “Latinx” to describe themselves. Drawing on these data, we address three interrelated questions: 1) what factors explain Hispanic-Latinos having heard of the term? 2) What factors are associated with having ever used the term to identify oneself? 3) What explains individuals believing the term should be used to describe the Hispanic-Latino population? We find that sharing a sense of linked fate with other Hispanic-Latinos, greater discrimination experiences, Democratic partisan affiliation, being younger, and having at least some college experience all increase the likelihood of respondents exhibiting greater awareness of the term. However, having ever used Latinx to identify oneself is only associated with personal experiences of discrimination, identifying as Afro-Latino, and being female. Believing the term should be used as a panethnic label is associated with the same factors as those that explain awareness of the term, with the exception of greater education. These findings suggest that while university and college campuses may represent critical sites for raising awareness of the term, this knowledge is not necessarily leading to its active use.