The “Knowledge Gap” and First-Generation College Students

This research is primarily concerned with providing a better understanding of how first-generation college students construct their relationship to housing. Through a set of six interviews with first-generation college students at University of California-Santa Barbara, housing was discussed through the lens of first-generation identity. Findings suggest that, without a source of knowledge regarding the housing processes, first-generation college students rely on other social and institutional sources of knowledge to navigate the housing process. This included friends, roommates, and the internet. The findings of this study indicate that when first-generation students cannot rely on their parents for assistance with finding or securing housing, they will rely on their peers to meet that need; consequentially, there are still inequitable separations between first-generation college students and continuing-generation students in terms of housing insecurity.