The Black Student Experience at Predominantly White Colleges: Implications for School and College Counselors

Abstract

Research from higher education and cultural studies that has examined the Black college student experience at predominantly White institutions (PWIs) is presented to assist counselors in understanding how Black college students' relationships with faculty, family, friends from home, and peers in Black student organizations can become assets or liabilities to their academic achievement and persistence. Implications are provided for assisting counselors in preparing Black students for, and supporting them while attending, PWIs.

Do Reasons for Attending College Affect Academic Outcomes?: A Test of a Motivational Model From a Self-Determination Theory Perspective

“…However, Vallerand and Bissonnette did not assess the need for relatedness, which is a salient limitation and substantial gap that exists in the literature given recent research emphasizing the important role that relationships with college peers, faculty, and family and friends from home have in facilitating college success (for a review see Guiffrida & Douthit, 2010).…”

Comparing engagement : predicting African American student success at predominately white institutions and historically black colleges and universities.

“…Seifert, Drummond, and Pascarella found African American students at HBCUs reported significantly greater levels of non-classroom interactions with faculty, faculty interest in teaching and student development, number of essay exams, instructor feedback, scholarly and intellectual emphasis, and quality of interactions with other students (2006), all of which can lead to higher student engagement scores. Conversely, negative gains in African American student engagement scores have been found for students who attend PWIs due to perceived sociocultural challenges (Guiffrida & Douthit, 2010). No significant differences were detected for Level of Academic Challenge.…”

“…Overall, it has been found that African American students are unable to form strong relationships with White faculty at PWIs (Guiffrida & Douthit, 2010). This finding can be attributed to African American student perceptions at PWIs that White faculty are culturally insensitive.…”

“…As a result, African American students are less likely to seek assistance from faculty and more often tum to family, friends, or academic counselors of their own race for assistance. Additionally African American students at PWIs are more likely to become socially integrated with the campus as a result of formal associations, such as participation in racial/ethnic minority student organizations (Guiffrida & Douthit, 2010).…”

Standing in the intersection : using Photovoice to understand the lived experience of black gay college students attending predominantly white postsecondary institutions.

“…In the face of countless messages of deficiency and inferiority, Black students see college as a pathway to personal and professional confidence and success (Guiffrida & Douthit, 2010;Wood, 2012). In studies by Ostrove and Long (2007) and Ostrove, Stewart, and Curtin (2011), the authors determined that students' sense of belonging within the institution was integral to their ability and desire to integrate and commit to the institution as well as the purpose and process of higher education.…”