College-going culture has been studied using a variety of theoretical frameworks including social capital, funds of knowledge, community cultural wealth and social capital career theories. This article explores the effectiveness of an integrated framework approach in the research of college-going culture for first-generation college students. The research question explored was: “How did first-generation students attending an HSI experience the phenomenon of college-going culture in their high schools and communities?” The authors demonstrate that a synthesized framework provides a more holistic structure for understanding the outcomes of a case study than any single theory could provide.
