First-in-family students in a tertiary bridging program: Does it really make a difference?

Abstract

The role of cultural capital, particularly as it relates to tertiary students who are the first in family to undertake tertiary study, has been widely researched and is often used as one means of explaining attrition in the first year of tertiary study. This study presents an examination of the role of cultural capital in the experience of students from an on-campus tertiary bridging program at a regional university in Australia. A custom questionnaire was completed by 294 participants from two different semester cohorts on two occasions allowing for test-retest analysis. The study identified that participants who were the first in family to attend university experienced lower levels of support from family members, which remained unchanged throughout the program. By contrast, an initially lower level of academic self-efficacy for these students at week 3 of the semester was found to have been resolved by week 12. No significant differences in achievement or attrition were identified between the various groups based upon being first in family to undertake university study or the successful completion of secondary school. While the study demonstrated differences in cultural capital between participants from the different demographic groups, there was little evidence that these differences influenced the quality of academic outcomes achieved. It was concluded that the bridging program facilitated substantial improvements in academic efficacy through the social and academic support provided which bridged the gap between students of different cultural capital.