College for All and the Postsecondary Experiences of Rural First-Generation College Students: Patterns of Alignment with a Predominant Master Narrative

The aim of this study was to understand the experiences of rural, first-generation college (RFGC) students in relation to dominant culturally normative expectations about postsecondary educational and workforce trajectories. The study adopted patterns of engagement with a master narrative as both a conceptual framework and unit of analysis, examining both biography and cultural ecologies as well as highlighting agency in the lives and choices of study participants. Evidence is drawn from 4 in-depth narrative interviews with each of 14 RFGC students, conducted both at school and students’ homes, from rural and small-town communities. Results show that a master narrative of College for All (CFA) is a widespread and dominant life course ideology that shapes the postsecondary experience of RFGC students. The study found three distinct patterns of engagement with this master narrative: faithful, hybrid, and utilitarian alignment. Moreover, these types of engagement seemed related to distinct patterns of agency-driven psychological wellbeing. The study contributes an anti-deficit understanding of RFGC students’ experiences and identity by focusing on the ways individuals negotiate and selectively align with dominant cultural narratives as well as the ways rural youth work to imagine new stories and possibilities.