Abstract
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Universities attract students from a diversity of backgrounds, but access
and participation are not equal for all student cohorts. Indeed, when we
consider access and participation rates across countries, inequality of access
is pronounced (Abbott-Chapman 2006; James 2008; Forsyth and Furlong
2003; Schuetze and Slowey 2002). For students who are first-in-family
(FiF) to come to university these statistics are particularly negative, with
poorer educational outcomes recorded internationally (ABS 2013; Harrell
and Forney 2003; Lehmann 2009). This group is statistically less likely to
attend university and even after enrolment perform poorly when compared
to their second- or third-generation peers (HEFCE 2010). Within
Australia, 26 per cent of this cohort is reported as considering leaving
university in the first year of university study, a figure that increases to 34
per cent for later-year students (Coates and Ransom 2011). These results
have been explained in general terms, for example, the FiF students in
Coates and Ransom’s Australian study who reported departure intentions,
perceived the university as unsupportive or failing to ‘help them cope with
non-academic responsibilities’ (p. 14). Despite policy initiatives designed
to increase university participation, these types of explanations tell us little
about what is needed to improve educational outcomes for FiF students.