2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

The purpose of this interactive poster is to examine common experiences of undergraduate engineering students from low-socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds and investigate how these experiences compare to higher-income peers.
Engineering has long been regarded as an exclusive field, shaped by structural barriers that limit access for students from marginalized identities. These barriers, whether consciously or unconsciously created, have historically restricted opportunities for minoritized students, including those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. While a significant amount of research has examined how identities such as race, ethnicity, or gender influence students' sense of belonging in engineering, SES has often been overlooked. As an “invisible identity,” SES is inconsistently defined and often overlooked in higher education, making it difficult for these financially disadvantaged students to find community and advocate for their needs effectively. Existing literature on low-SES students in STEM often focuses on summative outcomes, such as graduation and retention rates, while neglecting the nuanced daily experiences of these students, particularly in engineering contexts. Additionally, much of this research adopts a deficit-based orientation, emphasizing barriers and challenges faced by low-SES students without acknowledging the strengths, resilience, and unique contributions they bring to these environments. These approaches fail to provide a holistic understanding of how socioeconomic factors shape students' experiences, identities, and opportunities in engineering.

Our study seeks to address this gap by investigating how socioeconomic factors impact the undergraduate engineering experience, identifying shared themes among the low-SES student body. This work is informed by Liu’s Revised Social Class Worldview Model (SCWM-R), which examines how perceptions of social class develop and influence behaviors and worldviews. The survey includes multiple-choice, Likert-scale, and open-ended questions, designed to capture data on economic factors and their effects on key aspects of the college experience, such as access to resources, academic challenges, and well-being.

The survey instrument will be piloted with undergraduate engineering students at a large, historically white, research-intensive Midwestern university to ensure diverse perspectives across socioeconomic backgrounds. The instrument is organized into sections addressing themes of financial stress, access to social and academic resources, and the relational impacts of SES. Guided by the SCWM-R framework, the survey takes an asset-based approach, emphasizing the strengths and unique contributions of low-SES students in navigating higher education, rather than focusing solely on barriers or deficits.

This poster will present the initial development and content of the survey instrument. Future work will use the collected data to conduct descriptive and bivariate statistical analyses, as well as psychometric testing (e.g., item response theory) to refine the instrument and explore shared characteristics of low-SES students. By providing a nuanced understanding of how socioeconomic factors shape the undergraduate engineering experience, this work aims to inform institutional practices and support efforts to create more inclusive and equitable environments for financially disadvantaged students. The findings will guide future research and initiatives aimed at reducing institutional barriers and fostering the success and retention of low-SES students in engineering.