Credit: Bloomfield College
Dr. Marcheta P. Evans
Upward mobility is a promise that many students and their families count on when sending their students to college. As part of the process of social mobility in America is the expectation that earning a college degree will be the foundation on which the next generation will be better off economically as compared to the prior generation. This promise for upward mobility is deeply rooted in the American psyche, and especially for first-generation college students and families of color who represent historically underserved populations in higher education.
This was the case for me when I was being raised by my grandparents in Alabama during the civil rights movement. As an African American student, the type of higher education institution I chose to attend was just as critical. I enrolled in a small Historically Black College and University (HBCU), a minority-serving institution (MSI), because I saw it as a place where I could be who I