The current project uses our university’s new student survey to compare previously reported trends in first-generation college student (FGCS) retention with those found on our campus and discusses potential directions for future research and intervention programs. Consistent with previous research, our data showed that financial concerns were a particularly strong predictor of freshman-to-sophomore retention. FGCS reported that they were significantly more concerned about money and expected to maintain employment throughout their college career at higher rates. This emphasis on work reduces the amount of time FGCS engage in college-related activities and hinders their feeling of connection with their peers. For example, our FGCS expected to encounter more difficulty performing well academically, fitting into the campus environment, and making new friends than non-FGCS students. Our future research agenda extends these findings to other aspects of campus life, examining issues such as cultural fit, family ties, and university inclusiveness.

According to Catholic theology, God offers a gift of love, known as divine grace, to all of humanity. This gift of divine grace is the gift of redemption and forgiveness of sins from God that is offered to everyone who decides to acknowledge and accept it. Grace is central to the lived experience of many Christians. This qualitative study examined how Catholics perceive and experience divine grace using interviews that assessed perceptions of divine grace in 29 practicing adult Catholics. A grounded theory analysis resulted in themes indicating that these Catholics view God’s divine grace as a tangible gift that is undeserved though continuously offered. The participants’ experience of God’s grace is not just an abstract theological concept but an embodied aspect of religious life with which believers can interact in many powerful ways. Three characteristics of God’s divine grace (i.e., salvific grace, cooperation through free will, primacy of conscience and the afterlife) and three mechanisms to experiencing God’s grace (i.e., sacraments, prayer and meditation, saints) are presented.