| Cultural capital facilitators are an unexplored phenomenon in the higher education literature despite their crucial presence on community college campuses. Through the use of social capital theory, social networks, and cultural capital theory, this study explores the role that cultural capital facilitators play in first-generation, community college student information acquisition and ultimate success. Multiple qualitative methods are utilized to discover the cultural capital facilitator characteristics and attributes, social networks and types of cultural capital information shared between first-generation students and cultural capital facilitators. Implications for community college practitioners are also presented in terms of the role that classroom instructors play as cultural capital facilitators as well as the characteristics and attributes that these individuals can acquire through professional development opportunities. Finally, the interconnectedness of cultural capital facilitators' social networks and the domination of academic, cultural capital information are elaborated on for community college personnel in their examination of structural and functional barriers to first-generation student success. |
