First-Generation African American Male College Students: Implications for Career Counselors.

The path to upward mobility or economic success for African American men is often filled with obstacles and roadblocks. Many first-generation African American men entering colleges and universities face limited resources and opportunities to aid in their career development and efforts to meet their career objectives. This article explores the career development needs of African American men attending colleges and universities. The article provides suggestions, techniques, and strategies that career counselors and student affairs personnel can use to assist these African American men in their career development. Implications for career counselors are also addressed. Supporting the career development of African American men continues to be an important area of exploration. According to the latest statistics retrieved from the U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics (Snyder & Hofhnan, 2003), approximately 55.7% of African Americans graduated from high school and enrolled at a 4-year institution. Although this figure provides an indication of the growing number of African American students seeking a college or university education, it belies the fact that there is still a large disparity in rates of enrollment between White and African American college students (Bennett & Xte, 2000). Although the immediate college enrollment gap has narrowed over the years, White students continue to enroll in college at a higher rate than do African American students (Snyder & Hoffman, 2003). This gives White students a significant advantage over African American students in terms of social economic status and access because of education. There are nearly limitless benefits and gains that come with a college degree. To begin with, a college education allows both social and economic access that is typically not afforded to individuals who are noncollege graduates. In fact, in the year 2005 alone, African Americans who held a bachelor's degree had earned incomes that were substantially higher than those of African Americans who had only some college experience or who did not have any college education (U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2007). Nonetheless, although the earning potential for African Americans with degrees may appear promising, the promise of such success is severely hampered by low college completion rates. The college completion rate of African Americans continues to lag behind that of other racial and ethnic groups. A disproportionate number of African American men attend colleges with graduation rates lower than those of the colleges attended by their White and Asian counterparts (Stoops, 2004). Although there has been a 4% improvement in the graduation rates among African American college students in general, this increase is not very substantial (Stoops, 2004). Furthermore, the average length of time African American men take to complete their college degree is longer than that of their White counterparts (Trusty, 2004). These statistics not only have countless implications for the socioeconomic status of African American men, but also have ramifications for first-generation students entering colleges or universities. As has been discussed and as is evidenced by statistics, having a higher level of education provides better opportunities for greater income and the potential of career advancement. Given that a relatively large percentage of African Americans entering college are first-generation students and considering the low completion rate among this group, it is of importance to explore means to improve their college completion rates. In this article, we therefore discuss ways that college counselors and student affairs professionals can support African American students in their career development. We focus primarily on first-generation African American male college students and discuss ways in which career counselors and student affairs professionals can provide support to address the low college retention rate among this group. …