Parenting, Cultural Capital, and COVID-19: The Role of Parental Support for Latiné First-generation College Students

Caregivers and families play a pivotal role in students’ college decision-making and ability to develop cultural capital (Carey, 2016). Although the deleterious effects of the COVID-19 pandemic required shifts and adjustments to parenting strategies, it is less clear how COVID-19 impacted parental support for emerging adults, particularly Latiné first-generation college students (FGCS). The current study used a qualitative, longitudinal method to examine how parental support informs cultural capital (Yosso, 2005) and whether it changed due to the pandemic for six (6) Latiné FGCS attending a medium-sized private university in the Midwest region of the United States. Interpretative phenomenological analysis revealed that Latiné FGCS caregivers fostered college-going familial capital, which facilitated the development of forms of cultural capital (aspirational and navigational capital) both before and after the transition to remote learning. Post pandemic, caregivers provided additional logistical and practical support related to students navigating physical space. Findings provide novel insight on the role caregivers provided Latiné FGCS at the onset of the pandemic. Strategies for how universities can engage caregivers and families in order to support Latiné FGCS is discussed.