Abstract:

In this study, we build on social network literature within higher education to examine student use of faculty guidance. Drawing on student data from a US four-year public research institution, we consider how utilization of social capital resources in the form of faculty interactions may vary based on student status and other demographic characteristics. The results from our ordered logistic regression models show that female students are more likely to use faculty guidance compared to males and first-generation students are less likely to use this resource than continuing-generation students. However, we find that the latter relationship is moderated by admission status in that transfer students, irrespective of whether first- or continuing-generation, are less likely to use faculty guidance, while continuing-generation freshman admits more frequently use faculty guidance than other groups. Our findings also show that Hispanic students are the least likely to use faculty guidance of all racial/ethnic groups. We consider the implications of these findings on institutional policies and practices, as well as higher education research more generally.

Keywords:

First-generation college students, social networks, faculty guidance.