An Examination of How Community College Matriculation and Transfer Relates to the Motivation and Self-Regulated Learning of First-Generation College Students

For many years, systemic academic achievement gaps between first-generation college students (FGS; e.g., students whose parents/guardians do not have four-year college degrees) and continuing-generation college students (CGS; e.g., students with at least one parent/guardian who has a college degree) have been documented. However, this literature does not consider the matriculation pathways of FGS in higher education. This is important, as many FGS begin their college careers in community college prior to transferring into four-year universities. The studies examining the educational psychology and academic performance of FGS only focus on FGS who matriculate into four-year universities as first-year students. Thus, it is necessary to examine how community college matriculation and transfer relates to the beliefs, perceptions, behaviors, and academic achievement of FGS in four-year universities.Researchers suggest that FGS, who often come from lower- and working-class backgrounds, tend to espouse collectivistic motives for attending college. These reasons can include wanting to make their families proud, honor their family names, and/or give back to their communities. This is in contrast to CGS, who tend to espouse more individualistic motives for attending college including identity exploration, personal enjoyment, and personal financial gain. According to cultural mismatch theory, the prevailing cultural value systems at four-year universities align more with the beliefs of CGS than FGS, which results in psychological and academic issues for FGS. However, there is preliminary evidence that community colleges offer a better fitting cultural environment for FGS, with the implication being that FGS who matriculate into community colleges prior to four-year universities may be buffered against the negative outcomes of cultural mismatch often documented in the literature. This prospect is, as yet, untested. To address this gap in the literature, I examined the interaction of generational status (e.g., status as a FGS) and transfer status (e.g., status as a community college transfer student) on the relations between cultural motives for attending college and academic achievement (e.g., semester GPAs), as mediated by several psychological variables previously shown to be important to the success of FGS in higher education. Specifically, I investigated whether cultural motives for attending college related to academic achievement both directly and indirectly through perceived social class identity threat, achievement goal orientations, and help-seeking avoidance. Further, I examined if the interaction between generational status and transfer status moderated the relations in this model. I recruited undergraduate college students from two universities (N = 553) who completed an online survey with self-reported measures of study variables.Results showed two noteworthy findings. First, individualistic motives indirectly related to semester GPA through increased mastery-approach goal endorsement and decreased help-seeking avoidance. This is a novel finding that connects multiple lines of past research, thus helping to extend each of the respective literatures. Second, performance-avoidance goals positively related to help-seeking avoidance for transfer students only (both FGS and CGS), thus providing evidence of motivational differences between transfer and non-transfer students, which is unique to both the achievement goal theory and transfer literatures. No achievement differences were found as a function of generational status, transfer status, or the interaction between the two.Overall, the current study offers limited evidence for differences in FGS and CGS by transfer status. However, this study provides justification for future inquiry on this topic. Additional examinations of FGS in community college environments are warranted to better understand their perceptions and beliefs in multiple contexts. Emphasizing matriculation pathways that buffer FGS against commonly found challenges is crucial for educators and scholars who wish to provide these students with every opportunity to succeed and thrive in higher education.