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Rural Students’ Experiences At Selective Four-Year Colleges: Pathways To Persistence And Success, Amy Sikes

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand the lived experiences of rural students at two selective four-year colleges. Using the framework of cultural, social, and academic capital, I explored aspects of 17 rural college students’ experiences that show how they are able to attain success at college in spite of their potentially disadvantaged backgrounds. Data were collected by interview; the participants were college students who mostly were seniors at the time of the interviews. Two major themes emerged from the data analysis: 1) the challenges students encountered in their rural high schools and 2) the challenges students encountered …