The impact of college for women: Perspectives from the 1949 Texas State College for Women graduating class

The purpose of this study was to collect information about first-generation female college graduates. The 1949 Texas State College of Texas (TSCW) graduating class was asked to self-report the reasons for selecting, persisting, and valuing their college education over time. Two questionnaires were mailed to the 1949 TSCW graduating class. The first mail questionnaire had a response rate of 66% (n = 167) and collected information about educational attainments of parents, husbands, and children. From the respondents, a purposeful sampling (n = 71) was selected to complete an in-depth qualitative mail questionnaire about selecting, persisting, and valuing college over time. The 1949 TSCW graduating class reported high success rates in college and graduate degree attainment and in accomplishing their life goals. The emerging themes from the data reflected a group of women who valued work and relationships as they selected, persisted, and valued their college degrees over time. Implications suggest that the group of women reflect known benefits of college, including intergenerational transmission and contributed new information to the body of knowledge.