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Former foster youth in the college setting: Bridging the gaps on the road to success

Author

Stacy Heldman-Holguin, University of the Pacific

Date of Award

2014

Document Type

Dissertation - Pacific Access Restricted

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

Department

Educational Administration and Leadership

First Advisor

Delores McNair

First Committee Member

Joanna Royce-Davis

Second Committee Member

Judy Sakaki

Abstract

Less than 5% of former foster youth in America graduate with a bachelor's degree. The goal of this phenomenological research was to use student voices to identify or better understand promising practices that support the success of former foster youth. Two California State University (CSU) campuses were chosen as research sites because the California Education Code has language indicating CSUs responsibility to recruit, serve, and graduate former foster youth. Through purposeful sampling, eight students who were successfully approaching graduation were selected. The data collected through two interviews, a biographical questionnaire, and a photo review were subject to thematic identification and analysis of the use or lack of use of the types of capital outlined in the community cultural wealth theory. Five themes and the abundant and lacking types of capital were identified. Identified themes were student services and programs, mentorship, financial challenges, family dynamics, and self-determination. The participants were found to have abundant aspirational, navigational, resistance, and certain aspects of familial capital. They were found to be largely lacking in cultural, social, spiritual, linguistic, and other aspects of familial capital. Through the identification of the themes and the evaluation of capital, promising practices and next steps were identified and additional research needs brought to light.

Pages

187

ISBN

9781321488319

Recommended Citation

Heldman-Holguin, Stacy. (2014). Former foster youth in the college setting: Bridging the gaps on the road to success. University of the Pacific, Dissertation - Pacific Access Restricted. https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/uop_etds/64

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.