Associations between discrimination and first-generation college students' belonging and academic well-being

First-generation college students (FGCS) make up one third of the college student population but continue to face unfavorable academic outcomes. A powerful yet understudied factor that contributes to FGCS' lower academic and graduation rates is campus discrimination. Importantly, discrimination undermines feelings of belonging on campus and belonging has been found to predict academic performance, motivation, and persistence to graduation. The present study examined whether on-campus discrimination influenced sense of belonging among 276 FGCS sampled during the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic, and whether decreased sense of belonging, in turn, was associated with two forms of academic well-being (i.e., grade point average, motivation to return to college the fall following the onset of COVID-19). We found that discrimination significantly negatively predicted social belonging and that social belonging mediated the negative relationships between discrimination and grade point average, and discrimination and motivation to return to college in the fall. These findings contribute to a growing body of research on FGCS and highlight how campus discrimination can perpetuate academic inequities. Existing literature often points to deficits among FGCS that contribute to their disparate academic outcomes, however, future research should consider the role in which campus culture directly impacts their well-being and academic trajectories. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).